Dawn Monthly Editorials and Opinions Sep 2022 DM Whatsapp Group

Another targeted attack
dawn.com/news/1712695/another-targeted-attack
September 30, 2022
WEDNESDAY’S deadly attack on three Chinese-origin individuals

in Karachi’s Saddar area demonstrates the threat separatist
militant outfits pose to the city’s fragile security, particularly to
Chinese citizens working or settled in Pakistan. A suspect posing
as a patient opened fire on a dental clinic run by Dr Richard Hu,
injuring the doctor and his wife while the dentist’s employee
Ronald Chou died on the spot. All three victims were of Chinese
origin but reportedly held Pakistani citizenship; the doctor had
been settled in this country for the last five decades. The attack
occurred in one of the city’s busiest areas, and police say it was a
targeted killing. According to some media reports, a hitherto
unknown group calling itself the Sindhudesh People’s Army
claimed responsibility for the attack. Earlier in May, a deadly
bombing in the same area had been claimed by the banned
Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army.
Previous attacks by terrorist groups have usually targeted

Chinese nationals working on mega projects in Pakistan.
However, this incident, in which defenceless victims who had
chosen to make Pakistan their home were attacked, is
particularly appalling. Moreover, none of the locals present in
the clinic were targeted by the assailant. The attacks in Saddar
linked to Sindhi separatist groups, as well as the April attack on
Karachi University’s Confucius Institute claimed by Baloch
militants, in which three Chinese teachers were killed, point to
the fact that the threat from nationalist militants is considerable.
As it is Karachi is plagued by violence, and foreigners make for
easy, ‘soft’ targets. But in these particular cases, the violence has
apparently geopolitical dimensions — damaging Pakistan-China
ties and stopping work on development projects. Whatever the
militants’ grievances, the murder of innocent people cannot be
condoned. The fact is Karachi is flush with weapons, and large,
barely governed spaces prove ideal for elements seeking to sow
chaos. It is clear that the security apparatus needs to carry out
intelligence-based operations in order to bust the cells
responsible for acts of terrorism.
Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2022
Must Read
The sun shines upon the House of Sharif
Abdul Moiz Jaferii

Just as with the Avenfield conviction, its overturning is consistent
with the politics of the day, the flow of power and influence
which had once ebbed.
DM pai
dwhat
sappgr
oupDet
ail
s.
Agaraapnayhamar
apai
dDM What
sAppgr
oupj
oinkar
nahat
ohr
ozaapy
ehmat
eri
al
Hasi
lKarsakt
ayhai
n.
1.Subah9:
30am t
ak3msgsshar ehoangayj
ismayDawnNewspaper(
Nat
ional
,I
ntl
news,spor
ts,
Edi
tori
alsandOpi
nions)
2.
Dai
lyDawnEdi
tor
ial
saurOpi
nionskeepdff
il
e
3.PAKObser
vernewspaperpdf
4.Tr
ibuneEdi
tor
ial
sandOpi
nionspdf(
3pm)
5.DawnHi
ghl
ight
s(6pm)
6.
Int
lNewspaper(
7pm)
7.Dai
lyDawnEdi
tor
ialv
ideo(
10pm)shami
lha.
**Subscr
ipt
ionKayl
iye200r
seasypai
sa/
mont
h03124191070parsendkar
ainaur
saat
hhescreenshotsendkarai
n.
AccountTi
tl
e:
Dani
shMaqsood
BankappsayEasy
pai
sakar
tayhoayBankkeeopt
ionmayTel
enorMi
crof
inanceBank
sel
ectkar
ain.
Dar’s plans - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1712696/dars-plans
September 30, 2022
ON Wednesday, the country’s new finance minister, Ishaq Dar,

gave us a glimpse of his plans to stabilise the economy.
Predictably, a strong exchange rate remains his top priority as he
believes that the rupee is heavily undervalued at the moment
owing to speculative pressures. Next on his agenda is a reduction
in inflation and borrowing costs for economic revival. The home
currency has already risen by 4.18pc against the dollar in the
interbank market in the last four sessions. Whether the market is
shedding the speculative fat or pricing in Mr Dar’s
interventionist policies, or both, will soon be apparent. We have
seen the exchange rate improve twice in six months for brief
periods — the first after the new government took over, and
later, when the IMF agreed to restore its stalled loan package —
only to decline again. How long the current rally will last is
anybody’s guess.
The truth is that Mr Dar has come back to a Pakistan different to

what he had left five years ago to live in self-exile. The country’s
macroeconomic environment has become much more precarious
and his strong-arming the State Bank into injecting dollars in the
market to create an illusion of rapid growth by keeping the rupee
overvalued may not work this time. For starters, the country
doesn’t have spare dollars to burn. Even if it had, the new State
Bank law severely limits its ability to artificially prop up the
exchange rate. Then we have the dollar rising to its 20-year high
on continued monetary tightening by the Fed to tame inflation,
causing major currencies to slump to all-time lows. How can the
rupee, already under pressure due to the foreign exchange
crunch and elevated inflation, remain insulated? The value of a
currency is but a reflection of an economy’s strength or
weakness, and cannot be controlled in isolation. It is critical to
defend the rupee against speculative attacks to end market
volatility. But long-term sustainability of the exchange rate
depends upon the government’s ability to shore up reserves by
boosting exports, remittances and foreign investment. With the
economy already in a tailspin, and the government looking for
debt relief and waivers in the aftermath of the devastating
floods, any misadventure in managing the currency will prove
counterproductive for the economy. We have been there before
multiple times and suffered enormously. It is time to move away
from market manipulations and seek long-term solutions to our
economic troubles.
Must Read
Abdul Moiz Jaferii

Avenfield relief - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1712697/avenfield-relief
September 30, 2022
THE legal firewalls erected between the PML-N’s Nawaz camp

and the corridors of power now seem to be flickering out one by
one. Since Senator Ishaq Dar’s perpetual arrest warrants were
suspended, he has returned home and is now heading the
finance ministry despite spending five years absconding from the
law. Four years after they were convicted, the Islamabad High
Court has given PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz and her
husband, Muhammad Safdar, a big reprieve. Setting aside a July
2018 accountability court ruling that had held Ms Nawaz guilty of
concealing her father’s properties in the Avenfield Apartments
reference, the IHC has now given her a clean chit and overturned
the sentence. There is now little stopping Ms Nawaz from
contesting elections and becoming a formal member of the
legislature.
Whether or not the ‘relief’ granted to Ms Nawaz and Mr Dar has

legal merit is not the question at the moment. It is the integrity of
our legal and accountability systems that stand thoroughly
discredited. There are but two ways of looking at these
developments: either the cases never had enough in them for Ms
Nawaz and Mr Dar to have faced the tribulations they did, or
they are being dropped now as the times have changed, along
with the preferences of powerful quarters. In either case, the law
will not be able to easily shake off the pointing fingers of the
public. “Maryam’s acquittal in the Avenfield reference is a slap in
the face of the so-called accountability system that was employed
to target the Sharif family,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has
said. What of the judicial system that was supposed to keep a
check on the accountability system by evaluating the evidence in
each case in an impartial, unbiased manner? How does the
acquittal reflect on the fact that the accountability court
judgements were never impeached till now?
It also does not help that the acquittal has come at the height of a
populist movement against the government by a resurgent Imran
Khan. He has, for months, been accusing the PDM of staying in
power just to shut down the cases pending against its leaders.
Since his ouster, Mr Khan has talked about certain quarters
keeping a ‘hand on the pedal’ of the accountability process —
applying pressure and taking it off when they wished. Mr Dar’s
return and Ms Nawaz’s acquittal have given him ammunition for
his narrative. Will he once again turn his guns on the
establishment? Does he also expect the political cases against him
to disappear? It remains to be seen. The one lesson that should be
learnt from the past few years is that Pakistan desperately needs
a complete overhaul of its anti-corruption regime. Accountability
cannot continue to be treated like a revolving door in which
politicians can be shoved in or pulled out on a whim.
Must Read
Abdul Moiz Jaferii

‘Panopticon’ - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1712693/panopticon
September 30, 2022
IT has been some years since WikiLeaks exploded into the public
spotlight. Exposés of damning and otherwise secret
correspondences between high-ranking officials of the US and
other Western governments was a global event that generated
hopes that we, the people, could actually hold the rich and
powerful to account.
Pakistani generals, politicians, judges and business moguls have

since also been exposed as leaks from countries around the
world have made news; the Panama Papers and Papa John
revelations are unlikely to be the last transnational exposés that
implicate our own ruling class in sordid money-making
enterprises.
Some might be tempted to suggest that the recent audio leaks
which implicate both government officials and opposition alike
indicate that there is growing democratisation of information in
the public interest. Respective supporters and opponents have
certainly celebrated exposés of the ‘other’ as epic victories of
‘truth’. In my opinion, the audio leaks clarify only that the state’s
powers of surveillance are becoming increasingly widespread —
no cause for celebration.
The British philosopher Jeremy Bentham prophesied a

totalitarian order embodied by what he called the ‘Panopticon’ —
an omnipotent eye to inspect and discipline all subjects within a
given political community.
We are at the mercy of those who control the means of info.
Acute political polarisation has distracted us from the profound

technological ‘advances’ that are transforming the social and
political landscape. From the chip installed in our national
identification cards to the closed-circuit cameras that record our
every single movement, we are more and more at the whims of
the unaccountable men (and some women) who control the
means of information.
This is not just about intel agencies using and abusing their
power to manipulate our already weak-willed political class —
that has in any case been in full swing for decades. The
surveilling eye of the state certainly keeps closest watch on
political forces that are already controlling the reins of
government or seeking to do so in the near future. But the
contemporary state has the means to know what all of us are
doing and thinking, and therefore either scare us into silence, co-
opt us into compliance, or simply dominate our thoughts through
ideological apparatuses.
While social media certainly features the most prominent

concentration of anti-establishment and progressive thought,
repression is commonplace. Forced shutdown of accounts is the
minimum — an enforced disappearance is an increasingly
common punishment for overstepping the ‘red line’, especially
for those hailing from ethnic peripheries.
In any case it is worth being reminded that dissident thinkers

and activists comprise a relatively small percentage of social
media users. The vast majority in the online space is consciously
or otherwise functioning as a cog in a business model that some
have called platform capitalism. Our data is fair game for the big
tech giants whose platforms we use — they can sell it to
advertisers and other companies who want to make us captive
consumers or hand over information to the state itself. In the
name, of course, of ‘national security’.
None of these developments are figments of the imagination.

They are rapidly progressing aspects of collective social life that
we ignore at our peril. It is precisely because they sought to resist
these trends that whistleblowers like Edward Snowden came to
prominence, and, indeed, why entities like WikiLeaks came into
existence.
Yet even as leaks and exposés continue, platform capitalism as

well as highly contentious developments in artificial intelligence,
genetic engineering and biological warfare carry on.
Investigative journalists in the Western citadels of capitalism
have reported that the world’s richest and most powerful
individuals are already planning to save themselves from
catastrophic climactic events by mobilising technology by
splashing around unparalleled amounts of money.
Needless to say, these billionaires will not go out of their way to

meet the needs of the world’s teeming billions, now or in the
future. Neither will the Pakistani bigwigs whose audio leaks we
spend hours obsessing about suddenly become visionaries that
can combat climate change and the steady militarisation of state
and society.
It is all well and good to take on the task of speaking truth to

power and exposing the unaccountable, but this needs to happen
at scale given the systemic crises we face. Simply calling out
individual politicians — or generals and judges, as the case may
be — is not sufficient to transcend the deep structural problems
that we encounter, and this includes the enormous and largely
unconstrained power of Big Tech and the surveillance state.
In fact, there is an urgent need for our young population to be far

less naïve in how it casts online footprints. This is the defining
battle for political freedom in our putatively shared future.
The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

Sectarian conundrums
dawn.com/news/1712694/sectarian-conundrums
September 30, 2022
SOCIAL cohesion has been a real concern in many parts of

Pakistan. In this connection, among other factors, religious
education is generally seen as a major contributor to social
divides along sectarian identities. Therefore, the present
situation necessitates an effective educational response through
a methodological shift pertaining to teaching about Islam.
The purpose of religious education, as Andrew Wright suggests

in Religious Education in the Secondary School: Prospects for
Religious Literacy, is to produce “religiously literate individuals”
who demonstrate commitment to their own traditions while
respecting fellow citizens’ religious worldviews. In Pakistan,
however, religious education does not seem to serve this
essential purpose because of its majoritarian bent towards the
teaching of Islam.
In a religiously diverse society, a dogmatic approach to religious

education may not yield positive results as it tends to generate
unsustainable generalisations based on a particular
interpretation of Islam. Hence, such religious education appears
to promote what is called ‘religious illiteracy’ among learners
who neglect the rich diversity within Islam and beyond. More
disturbingly, religious illiteracy renders itself to condemnation of
diversity, intolerance and violence.
In Pakistan, curricular and pedagogical methods tend to present

Islam from an exclusive doctrinal lens. For example, the
curricula around religious education depicts Islam, as Madiha
Afzal notes in Pakistan Under Siege: Extremism, Society and
State, from a specific theological point of view in an erroneous
attempt to create a uniform national identity. Unfortunately, such
content, as Hussein Rashid argues, creates “a normative Islam
against which other Muslims are measured”. Equally, it is argued
that the existing curricula about Islam cultivates mutual
misunderstandings among students by creating strict binaries of
‘true’ or ‘false’ and ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. These binaries result in
sectarian bigotry and disturb social harmony.
A cultural studies’ approach may promote religious harmony.
In addition to the exclusive curricula, most religious educators,

as Javed Ali Kalhoro and Alexander Cromwell maintain in
Teaching Peace and Conflict, are unable to rise above their own
devotional prejudices and therefore project an essentialised
notion of Islam through their classroom teaching practices. This
teacher-centred pedagogy leads to a homogeneous and
ahistorical representation of Islam. Here, students are presented
a simplified version of Islam by inaccurately equating it with a
certain politically dominant narrative. Thus, the existing
teaching about Islam serves the purposes of power rather than
facilitating a critical engagement with Muslim traditions.
So, sectarianised religious education develops, according to Tariq

Rahman, a rejectionist mindset among learners who display
intolerant, uncritical, and self-righteous attitudes that usually
harm interfaith harmony.
In order to promote religious literacy and harmony, a cultural

studies approach, as suggested by Prof Dianne Moore, may be
beneficial as it entails a non-sectarian and multidisciplinary
methodology towards Islam as a civilisation. Unlike the sectarian
approach, it emphasises not only the devotional aspects but also
covers the sociopolitical, economic, artistic, cultural and
intellectual endeavours of Muslim communities historically as
well as in contemporary times.
For example, it highlights the fundamental beliefs that all Muslim

communities share; it also situates notions of authority and
leadership that mark them as distinct from one another.
Accordingly, a cultural studies approach reflects similarities as
well as distinctions among Muslim schools of thought to celeb-
rate the commonalities and to appreciate the differences.
In addition, a cultural studies approach tries to portray Islam as a

dynamic religion instead of one frozen in a certain time and
place. In contrast to the sectarian approach, it does not remove
Islam from the flows of history and human agency. Instead it
endeavours to demonstrate that Islam has emerged and
progressed in relation to varying sociopolitical and historical
contexts. In this way, Islam is understood historically, critically
and contextually, in order to better situate it in the present times
in terms of its diverse expressions.
Indeed, promoting religious literacy is one of the effective ways

of addressing the challenges of social cohesion in Pakistan. This
requires a robust religious education system. In fact, the desired
goal can be attained through a pluralistic representation of Islam
as a civilisation in conjunction with improving educators’
pedagogy. The transformative curricular and pedagogical
improvements can create favourable learning opportunities to
help learners grow positively as individuals, as members of their
communities and society, and of humanity at large.
The writer is a professionally trained religious educator based in

Gilgit.
baigabid786@gmail.com

‘One as beautiful as you’
dawn.com/news/1712698/one-as-beautiful-as-you
September 30, 2022
CRITICALLY important national institutions always need persons

who may be said to embody its aspirations, essence and
experience. The Pakistan Foreign Service is one such institution.
It has been fortunate enough to have had a select few who
achieved such a standing in the estimate of their colleagues —
and especially their younger colleagues. Among the very first
rank of such diplomats was Dr Humayun Khan who passed away
on Sept 22, 2022, at the age of 91. He was indeed an
extraordinary person: brilliant, articulate, broad-minded,
humble but frank and straightforward, civilised, cultured, a
riveting raconteur and bon vivant, a sincere friend, a wonderful
host, a demanding boss who brought out the best in his
subordinates, a true patriot — in short, a unique role model.
Moreover, Doc H, as he was affectionately referred to, exuded
class and breeding leading some to describe him as “the last of
the Tories” and even “the last of the Anglo-Indians”. But in fact he
was deeply imbued by ‘Pashtunwali, Pakistaniyyat and
Insaaniyyat’. Pashtunwali reflected the fact that he was from
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. His patriotism and humanity were his
hallmarks. Doc H saw the larger picture and the longer-term
imperatives of foreign policy. He wasn’t always appreciated and
he suffered at the hands of inferior political superiors. He was
similarly at times misunderstood by the often simple-minded and
less than sincere security establishment. But, while sometimes
disheartened and even driven to questioning his own judgement,
he never compromised on the integrity of his assessments or the
realism and quality of his recommendations.
India is arguably the most challenging assignment for a Pakistani

diplomat. This is not just because of the state of India-Pakistan
relations, but also due to the often narrow range of feasible
policy options open to the smaller country. Accordingly, the
measure of Doc H’s standing is indicated by some of the
comments of Indian intellectuals and diplomats. Amitabh Mattoo
observed “even his formidable adversaries within the Indian
establishment spoke of his generosity in thought and action”.
Mattoo noted, “As high commissioner to India and foreign
secretary of Pakistan he believed the two nations can resolve
their issues if India has a larger heart and Pakistan develops a
more thoughtful head.” He went on to observe, “the Indian
subcontinent has lost a wise almost sagely soul who was also a
formidable diplomat, a thinker of high calibre and a genuine
humanist.” Even the rather hawkish former Indian high
commissioner to Pakistan, Parthasarathy, conceded Dr Humayun
Khan “was a class apart”.
Nevertheless, Doc H was critical of India’s “ununderstanding”
attitude towards Pakistan. For a big country India demonstrated
“a small heart”. It often displayed a “small mindedness” towards
its smaller neighbour. India had not yet developed the
“personality of a great power”. Indira Gandhi, who was India’s
prime minister at the time, had a special animosity towards
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto whom she blamed for having deceived her at
Simla where he allegedly promised to work towards converting
the Line of Control into an international border. (In fact, Bhutto
bluntly told the Indian prime minister that if he were to accede
to her demand she would have to deal with his successor.)
Dr Humayun Khan was able to win the abiding respect and admiration of his
professional adversaries.
Despite these “scarlet threads” of the India-Pakistan relationship,

Doc H was able to win the abiding respect and admiration of his
professional adversaries. I recall during my tenure in India
(1997-2002) how many friends and admirers he had made. A
common refrain was that as high commissioner he saw his job as
cultivating as much understanding and appreciation for
Pakistan’s point of view as was possible in a very unpromising
environment. Similarly, he sought to improve the relationship
wherever possible through a variety of confidence-building
measures including people-to-people contacts, trade promotion
and cultural exchanges. During the ‘Brass Tacks’ crisis of 1987, he
played an important behind-the-scenes role to help avert what at
one time looked like a slide towards nuclear confrontation.
Regarding policy towards Afghanistan, Doc H noted that the

shots were being called from elsewhere — as is still the case. He
warned Pakistan “should not try to have a Government of
Afghanistan of its own liking”. Such an attempt was neither
necessary nor feasible. Such sane counsel was not always
welcome. One of the intelligence heads had the temerity to
accuse him of “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” in
Jalalabad. This nonsensical charge and implacable lack of
foresight deeply troubled him. At times he felt he was a misfit
unable to make a positive contribution. He felt he was a failure.
This was simply not true. Doc H was an inspirational leader of a
critically important but necessarily low key service operating in
a politically dysfunctional environment. The frustrations were at
times almost unbearable.
Doc H was surrounded by the love of a wonderful wife, three

beautiful daughters, three grandchildren and the doting care of
two younger sisters and two elder brothers who survive him. Yet
he often brought to mind the haunting words of the song Starry,
Starry Night: “This world was never meant for one as beautiful
as you.” He should be commemorated as one of the great
diplomats and servants of Pakistan.
There is talk today of the need for ‘technocrats’ to take over

policymaking including foreign policy making. This would
allegedly circumvent the political need for and avoid the
perceived costs of essential socioeconomic structural change. In
reality, this would only preserve a dysfunctional status quo.
Technocrats may facilitate the provision of policy advice. They
cannot provide policy advice. This is the task of specialists. In the
field of foreign policy, these specialists are career diplomats
whose advice is often necessarily more political, strategic and at
times intuitive than technical. Accordingly, diplomats and other
policy specialists of the calibre of the late Dr Humayun Khan will
remain indispensable. Political leaders who ignore the advice of
such policy specialists will do so at their peril. They will also
imperil the interests of the country they lead but do not serve.
The writer is a former ambassador to the US, India and China and
head of UN missions in Iraq and Sudan.
ashrafjqazi@gmail.com
www.ashrafjqazi.com

Realism or pessimism?
dawn.com/news/1712699/realism-or-pessimism
September 30, 2022
WE want every child in Pakistan to have access to quality

education for 10 years of their life (five to 16 years). This is a
promise that is enshrined in our Constitution (Article 25A). It is
also part and parcel of a number of international commitments
and goals we, as a nation, have signed off on.
Some 20 million-odd children between five and 16 years are out

of school in Pakistan currently. And this situation has not
changed over the last many years. But, equally tragically, most of
the children who are going to schools (madressahs, government
schools and low-fee private schools) are getting a poor quality of
education. We have plenty of evidence, in terms of test results of
the ‘learning poverty’. It is only the ‘elite’ high-cost private and
public schools, that only two to three per cent of our school-going
children attend, that are able to provide a decent quality of
education.
We have known these facts for a long time. Nothing new to see
and report here. The tragedy is that despite all the rhetoric of
successive governments imposing ‘education emergencies’,
creating ‘demographic dividends’, reforming education, imposing
‘deliverology’ and what not, nothing has changed. Enrolment
rates have hardly moved at all and if we stick to the trend, we
will not have universal enrolment at even the primary level for
decades to come. Learning outcomes have been more or less
static. Dropout rates remain very high. Gender gaps still persist.
Covid made matters a lot worse: learning poverty increased,

enrolment rates took a hit and even dropouts went up. The floods
this year have made matters even worse. Thousands of schools
are closed, many have been damaged; many are being used as
camps. It might be months before schools in the flood-impacted
areas are reopened, and it might be years before all affected
schools are rehabilitated or reconstructed.
Revising educational targets may be ‘realistic’, but it will hit children from
poorer households the most.
It is not that other countries have fared similarly. Not at all.

There are so many examples of countries, even around us —
many that started with far less than what Pakistan had a few
decades ago — who have passed us by. Bangladesh is a recent
example. It is not a question of tough economic conditions; it has
been a matter of priorities and choices.
Government after government has promised to raise education
expenditure, as a percentage of GDP, to four per cent, a sort of
minimum that international organisations recommend. But no
government has been able to do it. But if you look at any set of
comparative countries, you find they spend a lot more than 4pc
on education. The poor educational outcomes in Pakistan should
not be a surprise. It is the outcome of decisions that we, as a
nation, have taken and continue to take.
This is where the rethinking needs to come in now. Parents, civil

society, development and policy professionals, and many others
concerned with the future of the country and the future of our
children have continued to argue for the ‘right’ to quality
education to be extended to every child in Pakistan. And we
should continue the good fight. But, do we need to set realistic
targets too?
This is a hard question to resolve. And it is hard to get the

balance right too. We know that if Pakistan is to develop, if the
future of the country is to look better, we need the youth to be
educated, motivated, trained and involved in the affairs of the
country. It is hard to see a future for Pakistan if we continue on
the current trajectory. But given the outcomes and choices of the
last few decades, should we continue to argue for ‘10 years of
quality education for every child’? If we step back from the
demand for quality education for every child, will this not be a
travesty of justice as well? We know it is the children from the
poorer households who will bear the brunt of the lowered
demand.
If we decide to argue for education for all for five years only, the
transition from primary to higher levels for the children from
poorer households is probably going to get even worse. And if
education is the way to break the hold of intergenerational
poverty, reducing transition rates for children from poorer
households would be the exact opposite of what we would want
from educational outcomes.
If we say, let us focus only on foundational and/or functional

literacy and numeracy for the millions who are out of school and
not ask for 10 years of education, again, it will lead to the
children from the poorest households being segregated into these
programmes.
But, on the other hand, if we do not rethink the strategy for the
millions who are out of school and the millions who are getting
poor quality education, will things continue as they are? What is
the benefit of that? Would it not be better to work out some more
‘realistic’ targets? Between the devil and the deep blue sea, as
they say.
What is the way forward? The status quo is not working and is
not sustainable: outcomes will continue to deteriorate with every
passing year and with every shock that we sustain. To not argue
for change is not possible. The future of our children and our
country depends on the investments we make today. But should
we continue to argue for ‘10 years of quality education for all’
which, it seems from all indicators, will not happen for many
decades to come — if at all? Or should we start thinking through
more ‘realistic’ targets? But is ‘realism’ another word for giving
up on the minimalist dreams for a better and more equitable
society?
The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of

Development and Economic Alternatives, and an associate
professor of economics at Lums.
Great expectations
dawn.com/news/1712536/great-expectations
September 29, 2022
CONSIDERING that the Afghan Taliban have been in the saddle

for over a year now, the UN has expressed frustration with the
lack of progress the hard-line group has made in several key
areas. Expectedly, lack of rights for girls and women, as well as a
soft stance on terrorism, top the list. Addressing the UN Security
Council on Tuesday, the multilateral body’s deputy special
representative for Afghanistan Markus Potzel said that for many
in the international community, “patience is running out” with
the Taliban. He went on to list the areas where the Taliban have
performed poorly, particularly criticising the continued ban on
girls’ secondary education enforced by Afghanistan’s rulers.
Moreover, Mr Potzel claimed that the Afghan rulers had
“dismissed” the UN’s warnings about the activities of IS-
Khorasan. He also mentioned allegations of extrajudicial killings
levelled against the Taliban, as well as the fact that the ruling
movement has not set up any “mechanisms for citizens” to
express their views to the rulers.
There can be little argument with the UN official’s plaints against

the Taliban. Yet during the same UNSC session, Mr Potzel
highlighted the conundrum confronting the international
community by saying that not talking to the Taliban is not a
feasible option. The fact is that the Taliban may be unreliable and
rigid partners, but with a lack of any viable alternatives in
Afghanistan, what choice does the world have? Moreover, as the
Afghan economy has practically collapsed, the funds belonging to
the country being held by the US need to be utilised for the
benefit of the Afghan people. Pushing the Taliban to the wall may
only bring the outfit closer to even more violent actors, as was
the case the last time the group was in power. Both the prime
minister and the foreign minister have argued against isolating
the Taliban. As the UN official put it, “continued qualified
engagement” is the best solution to protect Afghan citizens’
rights, and prevent Afghanistan from slipping back into chaos.
Opinion
A depressing winter
dawn.com/news/1712537/a-depressing-winter
September 29, 2022
WINTER is on its way, with a massive gas crunch looming as

elevated global LNG prices have eroded the cash-strapped
government’s ability to make spot purchases of the imported fuel
to fill the growing supply gaps in dwindling domestic stocks. Will
this be a harsher winter than the last one? Probably yes —
despite the expected addition of 1,320MW of fresh electricity
generation from Thar coal in the next couple of months. With
just eight LNG cargoes a month available — thanks to cheaper
long-term contracts with Qatar — against a requirement of 12
vessels, the two public-sector gas utilities will be compelled to
ration the fuel for cooking, heating and industry as temperatures
start to drop in the country. Short of dollars, Pakistan was pushed
out of the spot market almost a year ago as LNG prices surged to
record highs, and short-term international suppliers started to
default on their (cheaper contracted) commitments to make
quick money on rising European demand. The Russian invasion
of Ukraine earlier this year exacerbated the supply situation for
Pakistan that was already strapped for foreign exchange when
Moscow drastically cut its gas exports to Europe, further
disrupting the market. In July, Islamabad did not receive a single
bid in response to a tender floated to import 10 cargoes. The
authorities have now invited bids for securing 72 cargoes from
international suppliers over a period of six years. But few expect
a favourable response due to the current price volatility, which is
unlikely to abate anytime soon after the damage done to the gas
pipeline transporting Russian gas to Germany in a suspected act
of sabotage. European gas prices rose by 12pc on Tuesday
following damage to the Nord Stream pipeline.
A gas crunch in winter has been a permanent part of life in
Pakistan for over a decade, with no significant new discovery
amid exhausted domestic reserves. With the spot LNG market
effectively out of reach of Pakistan owing to the country’s
balance-of-payments troubles and soaring international prices,
the next few winters are going to be tougher for gas users —
domestic and industrial both — unless Islamabad is able to
conjure up enough spare dollars to buy expensive spot cargoes.
That will impose large costs on the economy. The situation
demands that the government chalk out an effective energy
conservation plan to survive this difficult period. If rich countries
like Germany are doing so, why can’t we?
Read more
Comments (1)
500 characters
COMMENT MOD POLICY
Denali
Sep 29, 2022 07:22am
It is possible that Pakistans chief Accountant - Dar - may pull a

rabbit out of the hat - unlikely though
Reply Recommend 0
Opinion
More leaks - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1712538/more-leaks
September 29, 2022
THE PM Office needs pest control, as well as a good plumber or

two. The place appears to have had a bug problem for months, if
not years, and private conversations held inside its usually
secure walls are now casually leaking into the public domain.
Starting on the weekend, a steady drip of audio clippings had put
the incumbent government in an embarrassing spot; yesterday,
the equation was balanced with a leaked audio featuring former
prime minister Imran Khan and his chief secretary, Azam Khan,
strategising their moves on the so-called Cablegate affair. The
Imran Khan leak added an interesting dimension to the
controversy raging over this serious national security breach: it
is now clear that the PM Office had been under illegal
surveillance for longer than just one brief period. Clearly, the
Intelligence Bureau miserably and repeatedly failed in its sworn
duty to secure the facility and protect the prime minister.
To a casual observer, it would be a little perplexing why no one

has so far bothered to blame the leaks on a foreign conspiracy. To
others more familiar with the underbelly of Pakistani politics, it
is clear why they have not: these leaks look more like an inside
job than the work of a foreign power. They have confirmed for
civilian leaders something they had always feared: no matter
how far one rises in the pecking order, they are not safe from
surveillance. The blame ultimately rests with our own security
apparatus — whether for failing to remove the bugs or for failing
to prevent private conversations recorded inside the chief
executive’s office from becoming a national and international
spectacle. The entire saga has demeaned the office of the prime
minister of Pakistan and reduced its standing. Whatever the
investigation into the matter concludes, there should be severe
penalties for all those found responsible, in order to make sure
something like this will never happen again.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had remarked on Tuesday that

foreign dignitaries would be “apprehensive and uncomfortable”
in their interactions with locals if official buildings were
expected to be bugged. The prime minister should perhaps also
have given some thought to government functionaries: how will
they work freely if they are always watching over their
shoulders? If the events of the past year have taught anyone
anything, it is that, regardless of what position you take on the
political divide, you cannot expect the interests of the
‘establishment’ to always remain aligned with your own.
According to the press release issued after Wednesday’s National
Security Committee, the government has been given a briefing on
“cyberspace”, and a “legal framework for cybersecurity” is being
prepared to prevent another ‘incident’. One hopes that the
measures being taken will be considerably more substantive
than the word salad the government has issued.
Opinion
Climate and health
dawn.com/news/1712539/climate-and-health
September 29, 2022
IN the aftermath of the floods, hundreds of thousands of

displaced people are living in makeshift camps next to stagnant
water. Outbreaks of diarrhoeal diseases, skin infections,
respiratory tract infections, malaria and dengue are
compounding existing health threats, including cholera, typhoid,
measles, leishmaniasis, HIV and polio, and could lead to a full-
scale health disaster. Critical health infrastructure such as Basic
Health Units have been destroyed by the floods, limiting the
access of flood-affected communities to primary healthcare.
Besieged by weak macroeconomic indicators, and as the world’s

sixth most populous country, Pakistan is particularly vulnerable
to climate-related reversals in development gains. The rate of
stunting is around 40 per cent (the highest among regional peers)
and there has been a resurgence in polio cases. Pakistan slipped
down seven places on the Human Development Index 2021-22
and currently ranks 161 out of 192 countries.
The 2021 Report of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate

Change confirms climate change as the greatest global health
threat facing the world this century. Its burden on human health
and consequently health systems is increasing rapidly. Ironically,
those who have contributed the least to the climate crisis and
were already living below the poverty line are bearing the brunt.
The WHO estimates an additional 250,000 annual climate-

associated deaths between 2030 and 2050 from preventable
causes such as malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress.
Climate change impacts agricultural productivity and water
availability directly, threatening food and water security. A study
conducted by the Aga Khan University has found a link between
rising temperatures and reduced protein and micronutrient
content in staple food crops like wheat and rice.
Climate-proofing of healthcare facilities is necessary.
Malnutrition in infants can permanently impact their

productivity. Children are also more susceptible to severe
diarrhoeal disease and dengue fever. Due to changing weather
patterns, the frequency and duration of dengue transmission is
increasing.
Temperature extremes impact labour productivity. Senior

citizens are particularly vulnerable to heat stress. Finally, the
downstream impact of climate change, such as migration,
poverty exacerbation, violent conflict and mental illness, affect
people of all ages.
The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank’s climate risk
profile for Pakistan affirms that the mean annual temperature
and precipitation have increased across the country. By 2100, the
average rise in Pakistan’s temperature is expected to be between
three degrees Celsius and 5°C higher than the global average.
In order to ensure the physical, mental and social well-being of

Pakistan’s citizens, there is an urgent need to invest in climate-
resilient health systems. This includes climate-proofing
healthcare facilities and infrastructure in vulnerable areas,
increasing awareness about the health risks of climate change,
promoting community-based health adaptation, building the
capacity of the healthcare workforce to respond to climate-
specific health issues and ensuring access to life-saving
medicines in climate-related emergencies.
Although a joint inter-ministerial taskforce was set up by the

ministries of health and climate change to develop a National
Health Adaptation Plan (NHAP), the process stalled due to the
Covid-19 pandemic. Authorities should reprioritise the
strengthening of essential public health services and emphasise
coordination among government agencies (federal, state and
local), academia, the private sector and NGOs to respond to
future climate crises.
Building on existing policies, the NHAP should be able to

anticipate and prepare for the health impacts of climate change
and promote integration of climate change and health risks into
national health planning, programming and monitoring
strategies. Priority climate-sensitive health outcomes to be
explored could include: vector-borne diseases (kala-azar, dengue
and malaria); water-borne diseases (cholera and diarrhoea);
impact of extreme weather events including heat stress,
undernutrition, food insecurity, mental health and effects on
water, sanitation and hygiene. In the immediate term, public-
private partnerships could be leveraged to provide improved
shelters to limit the spread of infectious disease and scale up
mobile health clinics to deliver timely medical treatment to
displaced communities.
At the upcoming COP27 in Egypt, Pakistan must make a strong

case for technical and financial resources to tackle the altered
and increased healthcare burden and to invest in strengthening
healthcare capacity in order to be better prepared for future
calamities. Failure to act now risks the health and safety of our
youth and future generations and could become an existential
threat to the nation.
The writer is CEO of Zero-Point Partners and a member of the

Leadership Council of the Sustainable Development Solutions
Network, Pakistan.

The fifth attempt - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1712540/the-fifth-attempt
September 29, 2022
PRIME MINISTER Shehbaz Sharif has attained nirvana. Within

the same fortnight, he has met President Vladimir Putin at the
SCO summit at Samarkand, attended the funeral of Queen
Elizabeth II in London, addressed the United Nations General
Assembly in New York, been received by the IMF Managing
Director Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank President David
Malpass, and photographed sandwiched between US President
Joe Biden and Mrs Jill Biden. Fate could not have beamed more
broadly on him.
For the past 25 years and more, Shehbaz Sharif has been lurking
and working under the shadow of his elder brother Nawaz
Sharif. Now at last, since April 2022, he is his own man —
ostensibly. From the frequent stopovers he makes in London,
though, it appears he is still required to consult the ‘king across
the waters’. In Pakistan, he may be prime minister ruling over
225 million but at Stanhope Place, London W.2, he is very much
the obedient younger brother.
Shehbaz Sharif has returned to Pakistan with the excess baggage

of Ishaq Dar, foisted on him by Nawaz Sharif. For those who
suffer from political amnesia, Ishaq Dar was the Cessna
chartered accountant who, after serving the Sharifs as their
financial factotum, found himself retrofitted with Boeing
ambitions. He served the Sharifs as Finance minister four times
(1998-99, 2008, 2013-17, and briefly again in late 2017).
In power, he was dubbed ‘the deputy prime minister’, chairing at

one time 45 parliamentary committees. Out of power, he
‘collaborated’ with the establishment while in its custody at
Chamba House. Once released, he reneged, disowning his
damaging revelations about the fluidity of the Sharifs’ financial
machinations over the years.
Fate couldn’t have beamed on Dar more broadly.
Connected with Nawaz Sharif through marriage, Dar has

benefited from their good fortune. From working in Libya’s
government audit department in 1976, 40 years later Dar’s last
declared assets increased dramatically to ₨583 million plus
₨325 million in Pakistan Investment Bonds. This does not, says
one report, include allegedly £5.5 million in the UAE and
“undeclared property in Pakistan, the UAE and the United
States”.
He applied for political asylum in the UK and managed to

successfully evade an Interpol Red Alert demanding his
repatriation to Pakistan and was, in fact, given a clean chit by the
organisation.
This week he returned to Pakistan as Nawaz Sharif’s mole in

Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet and as finance minister for an
unprecedented fifth time. He is expected to apply his unique
brand of Daronomics and rescue Pakistan’s economy from its
downward spiral. PML-N loyalists are convinced he can and will.
Sceptics have a greater authority on their side — Albert Einstein.
He once said: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over
and expecting different results.”
Analysts must wonder at the recent inexplicable flip-flop in our

international relations. The US, after shunning Imran Khan’s
overtures, has announced this month that it would provide
$450m for “sustainment and support cases” of F-16 aircraft that it
denied delivery of to us in the 1980s even though we had paid for
them.
Robin Raphel (the widow of ambassador Raphel killed with Gen

Ziaul Haq in 1988) pays a courtesy call on former PM Imran Khan
at Banigala, without arousing accusations that the US is
conspiring to restore him.
The COAS, after announcing that the army had nothing to do

with politics, has again begun receiving foreign delegations,
including a high-level delegation led by Congresswoman Sheila
Jackson Lee, Congressman Thomas Suozzi and Congressman
Alexander N. Green. He has made high-profile visits to flood-
affected areas and most recently, even President Arif Alvi added
his credence to Imran Khan’s suggestion “that the term of current
COAS Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa be extended until after fresh
elections in the country”.
Inevitably such rumours will stoke the fires of speculation. Will
COAS Gen Qamar Bajwa accept the extension under the amended
Army Act 1952? Or will he retire quietly, or occupy a lucrative
post in the Gulf?
And what of the six senior generals due to retire before then, on
Sept 30? The ISPR is understandably reticent.
Meanwhile, Imran Khan is determined to agitate from dry land.

He threatens to storm Islamabad and wrest power from Shehbaz
Sharif’s government. Simultaneously, he holds out that he is
prepared to return to the present assembly provided there is an
independent enquiry into the moribund ‘Cybergate’ incident.
In all this domestic maelstrom, neighbouring countries like Iran,

Afghanistan and India watch us with silent condescension,
bordering on contempt. They cannot understand why our leaders
should bicker so publicly.
Over the past fortnight, the funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II
has caused many to marvel at the plans made for it years in
advance. That is not unusual. Pakistani politicians, too, have
been planning each other’s funerals for years.
The writer is an author.
www.fsaijazuddin.pk

War of narratives - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1712541/war-of-narratives
September 29, 2022
WITH support from the National Counter Terrorism Authority,

the Islamic Research Institute (IRI) of the International Islamic
University launched a ‘national narrative’ in January 2018, that
had the endorsement of prominent members of the clergy. The
narrative was called ‘Paigham-i-Pakistan’. A prominent feature of
that document is the fatwa, or religious decree, against terrorism,
suicide bombing and any individual issuing the call for ‘jihad’
(considering that such a call is the state’s prerogative), along with
many other related proclamations.
The joint declaration and the decree, initially signed and

endorsed by more than 1,800 ulema, have been acclaimed as a
great step forward to stop terrorism in the name of jihad and
implementation of the Sharia. So far, diverse communities, in
particular students and youth, have been engaged in large
numbers across the country for the promotion of Paigham-i-
Pakistan, as claimed by a senior IRI representative at a recently
held seminar in Islamabad that focused on the ‘new national
narrative’.
Earlier, the national narrative had been one based on certain

religious notions and nurtured during the last many decades
through a range of constitutional, legal and educational
measures. It involved a sort of state-sponsored process of
Islamisation, to promote some strategic objectives deemed vital
at that time.
A crucial question asked in the Paigham-i-Pakistan document is

“whether Pakistan is an Islamic or an un-Islamic state? Further,
can a state be declared un-Islamic and its government and armed
forces as non-Muslim if the Sharia is not implemented in its
entirety?”
In the absence of long-term measures with a proper implementation plan, the
narrative on militancy cannot change.
This could be read in several ways. For instance, one could

deduce two points from the question above. First, it appears to
indicate that to be an Islamic state (the definition is open to
debate) was the very purpose of the foundation of Pakistan.
Second is the implied acknowledgment that this objective is still
unfulfilled. One wonders whether the scope of this question itself
can be viewed as providing validity to the demand for an ideal
Islamic state by any means possible — what, in fact, the banned
TTP claims it wants to achieve. Moreover, to some it may come
across as somewhat apologetic — as if requesting a halt in the
militants’ activities until the government achieves the objective
of implementing the Sharia. Such phrasing could come across as
the antithesis of what the document may actually intend.
The simple fact is that no matter how much and for how long one
tries to make or prove Pakistan an Islamic state, there will always
be groups declaring it ‘un-Islamic’, according to their own
specific interpretation of the Muslim faith, thus ‘justifying’ to
themselves a continued struggle towards a ‘real’ Islamic state.
For example, as per a common understanding of religious law,

and especially when it is interpreted by militant religious groups,
a state can hardly be said to be conforming to religious edicts if it
is not ensuring that it has an interest-free economy, it is not
implementing capital punishment, it is not making the veil
obligatory, it is not strictly segregating gender roles, it is not
banning activities such as theatre, drama, film and music, it is
not setting up a department to ‘stop’ vice and ‘spread’ virtue, it is
not closing barber shops that shave off men’s facial hair, and it is
not cutting off trade and cultural ties with non-Muslim countries
generally, and in particular those that have majority Hindu and
Jewish populations. The proponents of such a state also
recommend that measures be taken to ensure the dominance of
the Muslim faith all over the world.
However, can a time frame for fulfilling such conditions be given,

even to temporarily pacify extremist groups that want to enforce
their strict version of religion in the country? Would an
assurance based on this make them halt their ‘activities’ while
waiting for the desired outcome?
The current upsurge in the terrorist incidents in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, including the erstwhile tribal areas, provides a
blunt answer. Terrorism-related incidents saw an increase of 42
per cent in September 2022 compared to August 2022. A
horizontal escalation is seen, with a shift in terrorism from North
Waziristan, South Waziristan, D.I. Khan, Tank, and Bajaur
districts to Lakki Marwat, Khyber, Swat, Peshawar and Kurram
districts. The Khyber district remained the most affected, with
the greatest number of terrorist incidents, followed by Lakki
Marwat, South Waziristan, Swat and Kurram.
A declaration or a fatwa in the absence of long-term measures

with a proper implementation plan is insufficient to change the
current narrative established through decades of consistent
promotion and propagation. If anything, it will further reinforce
the problematic objectives of the existing extremist narrative. A
translated verse from Mir Taqi Mir may explain this: “Mir is so
naïve that he takes medicine from the son of the same quack who
make him ill in the first place”.
Moreover, this is not new either — many ulema claim to have

been saying the same thing for a long time. Some of them have
even sacrificed their lives for what they had to say, like Maulana
Hassan Jan, Dr Sarfraz Naeemi and Dr Farooq Khan to name but
a few. In essence, the letter and spirit of the so-called ‘new
narrative’ are strikingly similar to what had already existed in
our religious and Pak Studies schoolbooks.
The issue it seems is that of the over-politicisation of religion

without differentiating between compulsion and human
freedom. Any misplaced idealism over pragmatism and
appreciation of universal human rights and moral values can
render us unable to understand the demands of our belief
system.
No positive change can be realistically expected to come about in

our condition without the willingness to improve our conception
of self and our worldview realistically.
The writer is a consultant and researcher working on social issues,

including building resilience and cohesion in stressed communities.

Ecocide crystal ball
dawn.com/news/1712542/ecocide-crystal-ball
September 29, 2022
ILHAN Niaz’s seven essays Downfall: Lessons for Our Final

Century, published by the Centre of Strategic and Contemporary
Research, Islamabad, are a remarkable and exceptionally
scholarly study from multiple perspectives, and on a global scale,
of the existential threat arising from climate change. His
conclusion is simple and grim. Human activity is inexorably
turning the planet inhabitable for human life and civilisation as
we know it. One can be sceptical, but it is difficult to altogether
refute Niaz’s argument.
The first and second essays draw upon the exegeses of Ibn
Khaldun, Malthus, Darwin and John Stuart Mill to suggest how
primary social and evolutionary impulses would thwart saner
courses of action needed to reverse the approaching catastrophe.
Niaz rightly targets the growth model and its excesses for
ravaging the global environment and triggering the now
seemingly irrepressible global warming. He argues that the much
bruited strategies of sustainable development and ‘green growth’
are palliates or even no less than a ‘hoax’. Meeting the challenge
demands rejecting contemporary habits of consumption and
living, while the innate greed and individualism of Darwinian
competition and Ibn Khaldun’s ‘asabiyyah’ set the stage for a
Malthusian denouement.
J.S. Mill had warned that the economic growth model was
untenable as it would exhaust the planet’s resources. Therefore,
growth must reach a ‘stationary state’. Yet before this nirvana is
achieved, Earth would become unliveable.
No doubt, the industrial and technological revolutions and the

exponentially expanding human ability to manipulate nature
have intoxicated human societies, with an unquenchable thirst
for ‘higher’ living standards conflated with happiness. The
United States leads the phenomenon which is turning out to be
much too profligate. The US model has placed the world in the
fast lane. Democratisation of the US style of living for eight
billion-plus people can easily exhaust and kill the planet.
Paradoxically, human intelligence, innovation and creativity that
count for the uniqueness of the species are proving to be its
nemesis.
For many, climate change is still a bridge too far.
The third and fourth essays expand on the dilemma that man is
inherently incapable of wise decision-making, because as
Herodotus opined, human nature is programmed to seek glory
and success, but once attained, these acts inhibit rationality and
magnify conceit about one’s innate superiority. The fourth essay
dismisses optimism as delusional and rooted in self-centredness.
The fifth essay discusses the impact of climate change on
geopolitics and raises the question of whether the scramble for
space among rising populations can result in fatal conflicts. The
sixth essay posits that any apparent equilibrium between growth
and consumption would remain ‘extractive’ and hence
inherently unstable.
Can technology provide a remedy? Niaz’s answer is ‘no’ because

the malaise relates to human behaviour which shows little
inclination to go through the rigours of the adjustment needed,
for instance, to reverse global warming.
Niaz’s arguments may sound familiar. Their quality lies in that he

presents them with stark elegance.
In my narrow experience, I found that out-of-the-box rational

approaches to serious political conflicts are often found to be less
seductive and are eclipsed by raw passions and hubris. I am
witness to the fate of two important efforts. The first was a
suggestion to transform Siachen into a jointly managed zone of
disengagement, which hit obstacles leaving it a zone of conflict.
The presence of armed forces continues to damage the glacier
which is critical to a fragile regional environment. The second
unsuccessful effort was based on the concept of self-governance
in the sub-regions of Kashmir allowing the Kashmiris the comfort
to manage their own affairs.
For many, climate change is still a bridge too far. One of my least
noticed writings in Dawn related to an idea for promoting an
eco-service sector to channel human energy for gainful
employment without generating growth which spurs
consumption through a mutually reinforcing binary of
productive and services sectors. As the concluding essay suggests,
there is need for “shifting emphasis on well-being and helping
nature to recover”.
Nonetheless, pessimism is no option. Throughout history,

humans have adjusted to escape the vagaries of climate and
conflicts. Habits and behaviour can change. Today, the
descendants of the Vikings are among the most peaceful
communities in the world. Curiously, their governance has
heavily shifted in favour of feminine ascendance. That may well
be a hopeful pointer.
There are other positive signs. Human population and current

consumption patterns are key to the stress on the planet’s
resources and eco-balance. Medical advances during the turn of
the last century, especially the development of life-saving drugs,
first caused a population explosion in Europe. The expanding
European populations spread out to newly discovered territories
of continental size. The next phase impacted China, South Asia
and then Africa and the Middle East. The recent decades have,
however, seen a gradual stabilisation and even declining
populations in Europe, Russia and China. It is not beyond
imagination that the world population may stabilise around 10bn
and may even start declining. Such a prospect can be real;
nevertheless, there must be no complacency.
The sinister aspect of human consumption is not food. Rich or

poor, an individual’s intake is modest. The difference in energy
per capita spent on egregious lifestyles is, however, enormous
and a major cause for excessive greenhouse gases emissions.
Take, for instance, mobility; a good deal of fossil fuel is burnt in
an activity much of which is unnecessary. The capacity to
communicate visually and audibly virtually reduces the need for
physical travel.
As part of an awareness campaign, studies and regular

monitoring are in order on energy consumption in broad sectors
of utility. Along with GDP and per capita computations, indices
linked to environmentally irresponsible behaviour and
consumption patterns may serve to turn the spotlight on the
culprits endangering our common home. Glitter must not be
allowed to conceal the poison it carries.
Despite the wealth of great literature on climate change or the

fact that Niaz’s writings carry a dire message which calls for
serious introspection, these essays provide a surprisingly
eloquent, inspirational and enriching treat for the mind.
The writer is an author and a former foreign secretary.

Islamabad wildlife
dawn.com/news/1712378/islamabad-wildlife
September 28, 2022
PRESERVING biodiversity is low on the list of priorities of both

state and society. However, successful attempts at living in
harmony with nature and preserving the flora and fauna of this
country should be applauded and replicated. While Islamabad’s
Margalla Hills are known as a picturesque tourist spot, the
capital’s woodlands are also a haven for diverse creatures and
plant life. Of late, it has been observed that many animals that
had been driven deep into the woods by human activity are now
making a return to the areas closer to the trails frequented by
tourists and nature lovers. Talking to this paper, the head of the
Islamabad Wildlife Management Board said that beasts such as
porcupines, Khalij pheasants and foxes have begun to roam
relatively freely and reclaim their habitat. Even a leopard — a
creature of the night — was spotted by camera traps on the prowl
during the day. Much of the animals’ newfound freedom is the
outcome of the leopard sanctuary set up by the wildlife board
and designed to minimise human impact on the big cat’s habitat.
In fact, visitors are now taken on guided tours to view the
animals’ natural habitat.
Such small-scale interventions can be replicated in other parts of

the country where biodiversity is threatened by human activity.
For example, Sindh’s lakes, including Keenjhar and Haleji —
which are havens for migratory birds — as well as other spots
across Pakistan can be developed as proper wildlife sanctuaries,
with input and participation from local communities. For too
long, human beings, in the name of ‘development’, have
encroached on nature. Now, a progressive vision is needed to
help protect biodiversity, and the advantages a flourishing
ecosystem can give, free from pollution and other destructive
human intrusions. Such natural preserves can also be developed
to promote sustainable tourism, though people would need to be
sensitised about respecting the animals’ space, and not littering.
Instead of driving species to extinction, let us learn to share the
planet with them.
Opinion
Real-world trolls - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1712379/real-world-trolls
September 28, 2022
AMONG the many criticisms the PTI receives, perhaps the most
common complaint is its role in promoting a culture of
intolerance and abuse in Pakistan’s modern political discourse.
Though it certainly is not the first or the only party to sully its
opponents with slurs and unfounded accusations, its supporters
have taken matters several steps further by internalising their
leaders’ hate and channelling it in their interactions with rival
politicians.
At first, the hate would flow thick and freely from anonymous
accounts on social media. Now, it is repeatedly spilling over into
the real world.
Several videos were uploaded recently to Twitter and other

platforms, showing some UK-based PTI supporters heckling and
accosting Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb in
London. The videos were condemned by many, and Ms
Aurangzeb was lauded for keeping her composure while being
subjected to an ugly verbal onslaught.
It is reprehensible how many PTI supporters now seem

convinced that politicians from opposing camps are not entitled
to even basic dignity and respect. That sentiment explains why
they exult in harassing Imran Khan’s opponents and even
celebrate their exploits by sharing them on various platforms.
Read: The business of hate

The party leadership’s refusal over the years to condemn such
repeated displays of uncouth, mob-like behaviour has only
encouraged them further. The resulting nastiness, which Ms
Aurangzeb was subjected to, has rapidly eroded the PTI’s promise
as a progressive party to lead the youth.
It is in this context that Mr Khan’s Monday address to students at

a 158-year-old institute of learning in Lahore becomes all the
more disquieting. Invited to address a ceremony being held to
launch an ‘Education and Skills Integration’ project at the
Government College University, Lahore, the former prime
minister loaded his speech with the usual attacks against the
individuals and institutions he sees as standing against him.
It was a piteous display of self-absorption from a man who

promises the keys to a better, more prosperous future. If all Mr
Khan has to offer the students of an institution as prestigious as
the GCU is his hate for the chief election commissioner and
Maryam Nawaz, it is little wonder that his most ardent
supporters, both young and old, have taken to acting like real-
world trolls rather than upstanding potential leaders of
tomorrow.
Mr Khan must reconsider the means he is adopting in his blind

pursuit of power, lest he goes down in history as Pakistan’s Pied
Piper of hate.
Read more
Comments (1)
500 characters
COMMENT MOD POLICY
Fastrack
Sep 28, 2022 08:09am
Not his fault the mirror he holds to them shows their true faces.
Truth is ugly they say.
Reply Recommend 0
Opinion
The whole truth - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1712380/the-whole-truth
September 28, 2022
THE war on truth has never been more relentless than it is today.
Authoritarianism is on the rise and purveyors of ‘alternative
facts’ have multiple channels of communication whereby they
can obfuscate, deflect and deliberately misinform. World News
Day 2022 is an occasion to celebrate fact-based journalism and
remind people why this calling is so critical to democracy and
human rights, to all those values that make the world a more
livable place. When journalism is done well, when journalists
can do their job without having to second-guess themselves for
fear of putting a step ‘wrong’, they have the power to shine a
light in the darkest corners and hold governments’ feet to the
fire. Granted, this may seem like a utopian fantasy, and many a
time vested interests do come in the way of this objective — but it
should nevertheless be at least an aspirational goal.
Unfortunately, in Pakistan we seem to be drifting in reverse.

With hugely consequential decisions on the political landscape
happening behind closed doors, it is fertile ground for conjecture
and conspiracy theories. To that, add propaganda and ‘fake news’
wheeled out as ‘journalism’, and the result is a citizenry losing
trust in mainstream media. Social media — the go-to news source
especially for Pakistan’s massive youth demographic — erases
context and shades of grey, fostering a correspondingly reductive
thought process. Together, both have led to the extreme social
polarisation that we can see today. Nevertheless, many
journalists, despite threats and intimidation, continue to do
stellar work, uncovering facts and asking the searching questions
that all those who wield power and must be held accountable
should face as a matter of course. Perhaps the media as a whole
must do more to showcase such journalism. It could also do a
better job of explaining to its audience why they, the people,
must fiercely guard their right to information which, in turn,
depends on the right to free speech exercised by the press. No
trade-off is worth the price of being kept in ignorance.
Noxious though some of its effects are, social media is the

apotheosis of a process that began some two decades ago when
Pakistani television news channels exploded on the scene. The
frenetic news cycle reduced information to easily digestible,
transient sound bites. As the audience, with advertisers following
suit, shifted to the electronic medium, the circulation of
newspapers went into steady decline. Sept 25 was National
Newspaper Readership Day, an opportunity to appreciate the
unique advantages that print journalism enjoys. An island of
stability amid the din of digital and electronic media, print —
especially newspapers of record — still inspires a certain level of
trust. After all, the permanence of the medium demands a higher
level of diligence on the part of its practitioners as well as the
grace to acknowledge errors. For those reasons alone,
newspapers are more relevant than ever today.

Opinion
European miasma - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1712381/european-miasma
September 28, 2022
ON the night of the Swedish election on Sept 11, a 26-year-old

politician from the Sweden Democrats hailed its triumph in
becoming the nation’s second-biggest parliamentary party by
raising one arm and proclaiming “Helg … seger”. It means
‘weekend victory’, but to many local ears it sounded a lot like
‘Hell seger’, the Swedish version of ‘Sieg Heil’. The resonance
probably wasn’t unintentional, given the party’s Nazi
antecedents.
The Sweden Democrats won’t form the next government in

Stockholm, and probably won’t even formally be a part of it, but
their support will be instrumental in keeping the next right-wing
coalition in power, given its slim parliamentary majority.
A rather different scenario is unfolding in Italy, where Giorgia
Meloni is expected to become prime minister in due course,
possibly close to the centenary of Benito Mussolini’s accession to
power on Oct 31, 1922.
She’ll be her country’s first female PM, which is a trifle ironic

given her party is called Brothers of Italy. It sprang up earlier this
century as a more or less direct descendant of the neo-fascist
Movimento Sociale Italiano that emerged in 1946, a year after
Mussolini’s execution by Italian partisans. In the event, it’s hardly
surprising that the globally embraced partisan ballad Bella Ciao
became a bone of contention during this year’s election
campaign, with the ‘anti-woke’ forces seeking to cancel it.
Nothing good can come from Europe’s flirtation with fascism.
But the neo-fascist backlash to European neoliberalism isn’t new,

of course. The Freedom Party in Austria got there first this
century, only to be followed by Geert Wilders in the Netherlands,
the Danish People’s Party, Norway’s Progress Party, the True
Finns, and the French National Rally. That excludes the former
East European nations that drifted to the right amid the collapse
of the Soviet Union and subsequently embraced the
authoritarian aspects of their ‘communist’ past, rejecting its
progressive impulses.
Viktor Orbán’s Hungary may be the most obvious instance of this

phenomenon, with its misogyny, homophobia and affinity with
Putin setting an example for other retrograde forces across the
continent. But Poland and the Czech Republic haven’t been far
behind.
The resurgence of the far right in Europe cannot be attributed to
the intrinsic appeal of neo-fascist forces. It’s a consequence of the
multiple failures of what was once known as the left. Since at
least the 1980s, the so-called progressives have bought into the
neoliberal economic myths of the Reagan-Thatcher era, and
colluded in ripping the heart out of the welfare states that
emerged from the wreckage of World War II, partly as a means of
diminishing the appeal of the Soviet alternative.
The latter itself couldn’t have seemed too appealing in the late
1940s, given its devotion to twisting poll results and eventually
instituting one-party states across much of Eastern Europe. But
let’s not forget that the US was equally active in Europe by then,
and any Western European states that dared to opt for the wrong
side in the incipient Cold War were under threat of being
excluded from the Marshall Plan. That blackmail wasn’t expected
to suffice, though, and so among the earliest covert operations of
the CIA was a dedicated effort to ensure that communists and
their allies, vastly popular because of their key role in the
resistance to fascism, would not win the Italian republic’s first
elections in 1948.
For many decades thenceforth, Italy vacillated between so-called

Christian Democrats and ‘socialists’ prone to neoliberal
capitalism, with both sides corrupt and beholden to both the
market and mafia, until Silvio Berlusconi emerged as a populist
right-wing alternative in the 1990s, establishing a trend that has
wreaked havoc.
Where Italy’s postwar instability is almost legendary, Sweden

was long seen as a bastion of social democracy, with its model of
a mixed economy much admired in nations not keen on either
naked market rule or a command economy. That included the
Soviet Union in its dying years. Thereafter, however, the
supposed Swedish left gradually became barely distinguishable
from its neoliberal ‘centre’, making more room for alternatives to
an increasingly unsatisfactory status quo wherein the welfare
state effectively self-immolated.
It wasn’t just a drift to neoliberalism (including the privatisation

of health, education and other welfare services that had long
been deemed a state responsibility) which still infects many of
Europe’s ‘progressive’ political forces, that diminished the appeal
of the left, but also its uncomfortable embrace of the nationalist
right’s anti-immigrant agenda. The segment of the electorate that
approves of this variant of nationalism sees little reason to back
recent converts to the cause rather than long-standing racists.
Europe may not be headed where the economic collapse and

political bankruptcy of the 1920s and 1930s took it, but what the
immediate future holds is still unpleasant to contemplate.
mahir.dawn@gmail.com

World News Day - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1712382/world-news-day
September 28, 2022
IN 1896, The New York Times introduced on its masthead the

words which went on to become not only its own manifesto but
also set the standard by which other newspapers would be
judged. The words ‘All the News Fit to Print’ were reportedly
chosen in response to the scurrilous content of its two main
competitors who were peddling news deemed ‘unfit’ for
publishing or what came to be known as ‘yellow journalism’.
As World News Day is observed today, it is interesting to note that

terms such as ‘yellow journalism’ are now considered belonging
to another time, another generation. So is the case with the idea
of ‘objective’ reporting. Current news consumers (no longer
necessarily readers) are more familiar with the terms ‘fake
news’, ‘keyboard warriors’ and ‘trolling’ and all that they entail.
So what is the significance of the day in a contemporary context?
Organised primarily by the Canadian Journalism Foundation and
WAN-IFRA’S World Editors Forum, with over 500 newsrooms
participating, the objective of observing this day is to bring the
focus back on journalism that is committed to being fact-based
and credible.
However noble the intentions, the current challenges to credible

news seem almost insurmountable. At the same time, in today’s
crisis-ridden world the need for credible sources of news — and
credible voices that convey the news — is greater than ever
before. Perhaps even greater than during days of censorship of
which journalists in Pakistan have particularly painful
memories.
While the phenomenon of fake news has been known to be

around for over a century, it was Donald Trump who made it
part of the mainstream discourse. He accused critics of peddling
fake news about him, while at the same time used it as an
effective propaganda tool against his opponents, including
journalists. His aide, Kellyanne Conway, went a step further by
introducing in the lexicon the idea of ‘alternative facts’, which
was actually a euphemism for lies.
The challenges to credible news seem almost insurmountable.
Fake news can only be defeated or countered with fact-based

journalism and this is where the importance of professional
newsrooms (in newspaper offices or TV/radio channels) is truly
felt. However, at a time when social media is overtaking even the
traditional electronic media — not to mention print — there is a
scramble to be the first to break the news. This often entails
compromising on fact-checking. TV channels, in competition for
ratings, are also among those peddling fake news even if
inadvertently.
So why should anyone care about the news? Does truth in

journalism and in reporting actually make a difference in
people’s lives? Just going by the threats and violence faced by
journalists in the line of duty, fact-based and investigative
reporting is upsetting the apple cart of corruption and repression
in several parts of the world. The extreme response of those thus
exposed earns many countries — including Pakistan — the
reputation of being among the ‘most dangerous place for
journalists’ by organisations promoting press freedom. In a
world where populist leaders are increasingly trampling on
people’s rights — and not only in Third World countries — the
media’s adversarial and watchdog roles assume greater
significance.
It is not only ground-breaking news that has an impact or makes

a difference. Not every investigation on the part of journalists
can lead to the resignation of a head of state as was the case with
The Washington Post and the Watergate scandal involving
Richard Nixon.
In the case of Pakistan, for instance, sustained reporting on an

issue can achieve far-reaching positive results. We have seen
how reports on honour killings (a vile practice unheard of some
decades back) helped both in awareness and consciousness
raising, leading to human rights groups taking up the issue and
campaigning till ultimately the judiciary stopped condoning the
practice. Similarly, when the first group of agricultural labour
managed to escape from the bondage of feudal landlords in
Sindh, it was newspaper reporting that helped HRCP campaign
for a law against bonded labour that was passed in 1992.
Journalists in Pakistan may not have covered themselves in full

glory with their stories. However, they have shown resilience
and resistance when it has mattered most. During the
dictatorship of Gen Ziaul Haq, when journalists were not only
imprisoned but also flogged they courageously covered the
democratic movements — including the Movement for
Restoration of Democracy and the nascent Women’s Action
Forum. The pictorial coverage of women protesters in Lahore in
1983 being dragged into police vans has become an iconic part of
Pakistan’s news history.
However, these are possibly the worst times for those whose jobs
it is to convey news. In a highly divisive society and under attack,
fairly or not, for being partisan or being a beneficiary of the
‘lifafa’ system, journalists must reiterate their commitment to
speak truth to power.
The writer is a human rights activist.

Iran and the hijab - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1712383/iran-and-the-hijab
September 28, 2022
SHE was a Kurdish woman who had been visiting relatives in the
Iranian capital Tehran. Mahsa Amini (who was also called Jina)
was out and about in the city when she was detained by the
morality police for not wearing the hijab according to Iranian
law. No one knows what happened in the time she was brought
to the centre where the authorities impart ‘education’ about the
proper hijab. The next time Amini’s family saw her she was dead.
A photo circulating on the internet showed the 22-year-old

woman before the detention; another showed her hooked up to
various tubes, blood oozing from her ear. Her body appears
lifeless even in the photo. Reportedly, a woman who had also
been detained said that Amini complained she had been hit by
the police. The state released a short CCTV clip which
purportedly shows Amini collapsing.
In the meantime, a wave of protests has erupted in Iran. The

protests that began in Tehran have spread to cities and towns in
most Iranian provinces. Led largely by young people they have
included a wide variety of social classes and ethnicities. There
are a number of issues that have caused the festering discontent
in Iran — not least the horrendous condition of the Iranian
economy, that has faced international sanctions for years, and
corruption in the bureaucracy. Also enervating for many have
been examples of how unapologetic some Iranian leaders are in
indulging their nepotistic tendencies.
It is all of these factors that form the seething background for the
current protests. At its heart lies the struggle over the hijab —
over which Mahsa Amini was arrested and likely killed in
custody. Iran’s ruling clergy considers the hijab to be a
requirement for all Muslim women. It is a convenient belief
because in the era when politics from the United States to
everywhere else has become mostly about performance,
imposing the hijab also makes for excellent political theatre. Just
like the reinstated Afghan Taliban in Kabul, Iran’s conservative
circles can look around at the women present in the public
spaces of their country and get an instant power high about their
own might. Similarly, hungry for power highs, Islamophobic
politicians from parties such as Marine le Pen’s National Rally in
France and Narendra Modi’s BJP in India want to forbid the
wearing of the headscarf and appeal to an ignorant and self-
serving version of secularism or Hindutva supremacy.
No state, whether it is the Iranian or the Saudi, the French or the Indian, has
the right to tell women what to wear.
The truth is far simpler: no state, whether it is the Iranian or the

Saudi, the French or the Indian, or any other, has the right to tell
women what to wear. At its heart, the struggle over the hijab
shows just how eager male-dominated state machineries are to
use their power to force women to do one thing or another. In
some countries, power is signalled by forcing women to wear the
hijab, in others to force them to take it off. In either case, the idea
is that women can be ordered to do this or that.
This is why it is so heartening to see Iranian women leading

these protests. Many have cut off their hair or burned their
headscarves even as the Iranian authorities use deadly force to
quell their convenings. Having borne the brunt of the Iranian
state’s denegration and being treated as subhuman, dragged into
vans and detained by an increasingly repressive morality police
at the slightest ‘provocation’, they have had enough. So they have
been marching, even though the danger to their lives and the
overall cost is huge. The state had recently announced that at
least 41 protesters and police had been killed but the number is
likely to be much higher as Iran has vowed to “deal decisively”
with the protesters.
Here in Pakistan, women know a few things about repression

and patriarchal control. One video from the streets of Tehran
shows a middle-aged, bearded man on a motorbike almost
pushing his face through the window of an adjacent car as he
yells and screams at the women inside for their improper hijab.
Raining abuses on them and trying to intimidate them, he does
not stop until traffic around them forces him to move. Any
Pakistani woman who can drive or who has spent any time on
the streets would not be surprised at a similar move.
In the past decade, drivers, motorcyclists, grocery shop clerks,

restaurant owners, really anyone at all in the public realm, have
similarly become an expert in how Pakistani women should and
should not be dressed. In these cases, it is always the women who
have to be defensive because angry men have all the rights in
Pakistan. ‘Mera jism meri marzi’ is at the centre of the Pakistan’s
women’s movement, and is being reflected in Iran.
This is just why Pakistani women have an important role to play

as allies in Iranian women’s struggle against bodily control by the
state. Even though Western feminists in white-majority countries
are eager to jump in, Iranian women are rightly rebuffing those
offers, because they taint what is a local and grassroots struggle
in a country where half the population is just fed up of the
repressive status quo. When white and Western feminists get
involved it is not about the struggle but the rescue, and how
Iranian or Pakistani or Somalian women are being ‘saved’ by the
‘real’ feminists who are also the white feminists.
Even though the internet has been blocked in many parts of Iran,
many tweets, pictures and slogans, are still emerging through
those with VPN servers. Pakistani feminists must make it their
business to amplify the voices of Iranian women who are fighting
and protesting and showing the world what true feminist
courage actually means.
The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political

philosophy.
rafia.zakaria@gmail.com
Read more
Comments (1)
500 characters
COMMENT MOD POLICY
Dadeeji
Sep 28, 2022 07:59am
Women alone, just as men alone, should be entitled to determine

how they want to dress whether it is Iran or Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, La France or any other country in the
world. Period. This is the best way to have happy people and the
way to maximize social happiness. Maximization of social
happiness will produce many other individual and social
benefits.
Reply Recommend 0
Return of the ‘Dar’ Ages
dawn.com/news/1712384/return-of-the-dar-ages
September 28, 2022
IN yet another interesting twist in the ongoing political soap

opera, Ishaq Dar is back, picking up from where he left off some
five years ago. The so-called financial wizard promises to fix
everything that has gone wrong with the country’s economy.
What is described as ‘Daronomics’ is supposed to bring down the
dollar and contain the spiralling inflation. Just wait for the magic
to start working.
In fact, the return of Dar as the country’s next finance minister

and the unceremonious exit of Miftah Ismail have not come as a
surprise. It was evident that a Karachi businessman with a
doctorate in economics was there just as a stopgap arrangement
for getting some hard tasks done. Miftah Ismail successfully
negotiated an extremely tough deal with the IMF. But once the
tranche was received, he was deemed dispensable. The former
finance minister will now be a convenient scapegoat for the
government’s failure to stabilise the economy and stem the rot.
Dar has been one of the harshest critics of the steps taken by the
former finance minister who secured the bailout package needed
to prevent an imminent default. Sitting in London, Dar did
everything he could to undermine his predecessor. The ground
was already prepared for his return.
More importantly, being a close confidant and more or less a

member of the Sharif family, Dar has the blessings of former
prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Within six months of its formation,
the government will now have its second finance minister. The
new finance minister has apparently been tasked to regain his
party’s lost ‘political capital’. But can Dar, despite his self-
proclaimed ‘wizardry’, turn around an economy in a state of free
fall?
Sitting in London, Dar did everything he could to undermine the previous
finance minister.
His previous record as finance minister in Nawaz Sharif’s second

and third governments has not been without blemish. He was a
de facto deputy prime minister in Sharif’s last government.
Besides his main responsibility of dealing with the economy, he
also headed dozens of government committees dealing with
issues ranging from the economy and politics to legal matters.
During his previous term, his controversial efforts to control the

exchange rate by pumping dollars into the market worsened
Pakistan’s current account deficit problem and were also the
reason for the country going back to the IMF for a bailout in
2019. It may not be possible for Dar to use the same prescription
to contain the free fall of the rupee today, with foreign exchange
reserves already in a precarious situation.
A more serious challenge for him would be to bring down the

runaway inflation that is being driven by both internal and
external factors. A weak government with limited political
control and little fiscal space is hardly in a position to undertake
any major reforms. Being in an IMF programme with stringent
conditionalities will make it harder for the incoming finance
minister to deliver on his promises.
Dar has also been known for his tendency to control regulatory
bodies including the State Bank. But with a new rule protecting
the autonomy of the State Bank (a part of IMF conditionalities), it
may be extremely difficult for him to manipulate the exchange
rate as he did in the past. The challenges for the returning
‘economic czar’ are extremely daunting in the current economic
and political milieu. His pledge to turn around a sick economy
within a few months — before the next elections — will be
severely tested.
Dar’s return means more than just a change of guard at the

finance ministry. Unlike Miftah Ismail, he has the backing of not
only PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif but also other senior party
leaders. That may change the power balance within the
government. His return to the most powerful cabinet position
would certainly strengthen the former prime minister’s control
over the government’s policy-framing process on important
national issues.
As in the previous PML-N government, this time too he might act
as deputy prime minister, taking his direction from Nawaz
Sharif. That could make Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif
extremely uncomfortable, raising serious questions about who
wields the real authority in guiding the policies of the PML-N-led
government.
It is evident that all major decisions are taken in London rather

than Islamabad. Hence it was not surprising that the decision
regarding Dar’s appointment was apparently made in the
meeting between the Sharif brothers in London recently.
According to media reports, the meeting, which was also
attended by some cabinet ministers and other Sharif family
members, discussed the party’s future course of action.
The latest audio leaks saga shows that even minor decisions, for
example, which ‘resigning’ PTI MNA is to be de-seated, requires
Nawaz Sharif’s approval. The very optics of Shehbaz Sharif
making two trips to London within days and consulting his elder
brother and other family members is disconcerting, and also
raises eyebrows because the prime minister was out of the
country although tens of millions of people at home were
suffering the consequences of one of the worst natural calamities
to have struck Pakistan.
How can we expect the international community to respond to

our appeal for support to deal with the calamity when the
government doesn’t seem serious about fully mobilising its own
resources? It makes it much harder for the ruling party and the
government to regain their ‘lost political capital’. Dar is not likely
to perform any miracles to salvage a deteriorating economy. The
existing polarised political environment and growing opposition
pressure have further complicated the situation.
Yet the PDM government doesn’t seem to have any understating
of the gravity of the crisis. A massive cabinet is not expected to
deliver on key challenges confronting the country. Many of the
ministers, advisers and special assistants do not even have a
portfolio or have not been assigned any responsibility. They are a
huge burden on the exchequer during a serious financial crunch.
The return of Dar is not going to improve this basic problem of
governance.
The writer is an author and journalist.
zhussain100@yahoo.com
Twitter: @hidhussain
Read more
Comments (2)
500 characters
COMMENT MOD POLICY
Virgo
Sep 28, 2022 08:07am
True, very ’disconcerting' move.

Reply Recommend 0
Denali
Sep 28, 2022 08:46am
Well said. Miftah was the stooge and the contemptible Sharifs
played him for their personal gain
Reply Recommend 0
Delaying Doha plans
dawn.com/news/1712212/delaying-doha-plans
September 27, 2022
WHEN Doha announced its intention to spend $3bn in different

commercial and investment sectors of Pakistan around a month
ago to support this country’s teetering economy, no one expected
the government here to immediately implement the actions
needed to facilitate the Qatari plans. Yet, it was largely assumed
that the work that was started before the prime minister’s Doha
visit to remove impediments to the Qatari plan to develop a new
RLNG terminal and buy two RLNG-powered generation plants
would make rapid progress on fast-tracking the promised
investments. However, a report in this paper suggests that
bureaucratic red tape and vested interests are stalling any
meaningful headway on those reforms. This is in spite of the
urgency with which Pakistan needs foreign loans and non-debt-
creating investments to tackle its balance-of-payments troubles.
Though Qatar did not give any time frame for its investments, the
gas-rich state is expected to spend much of the money on the
LNG infrastructure project and the purchase of power plants
during the current fiscal to support Islamabad’s efforts to double
its foreign exchange reserves to $16bn under the IMF’s bailout
programme.
Any other country dealing with a serious economic turmoil amid

a balance-of-payments crisis and falling foreign currency
reserves would have moved swiftly to push reforms forward and
remove the barriers to such a large investment in a sector on
which depends the nation’s energy security. The lack of progress
on reforms and policy decisions approved by the federal cabinet
shows that the gas sector bureaucracy is more concerned about
its own interests than those of the country. It goes without saying
that the delay in the implementation of reforms required to
facilitate long-term foreign investment will not only jeopardise
Qatari plans in the gas sector but in other areas as well. Saudi
Arabia and the UAE may also rethink their recently announced
decisions to invest $1bn each in Pakistan if we continue to drag
our feet on important policy reforms meant to ease the way of
foreign investors.
Opinion
Cipher probe offer
dawn.com/news/1712213/cipher-probe-offer
September 27, 2022
CONSIDERING the toxic political polarisation in the country,

former prime minister Imran Khan’s suggestion that his party is
willing to return to parliament if a probe is initiated into the
‘Cablegate’ affair is not without merit. If the PTI chief sticks to
this offer and does not make another U-turn, such a development
could lead to a much-needed political truce between the PTI and
the ruling PDM. While speaking in Islamabad on Saturday, Mr
Khan said he would consider taking back the resignations his
MNAs had submitted in April after the PTI leader was removed
from the office of prime minister in a vote of no-confidence. The
PTI’s narrative has since then been that its government at the
centre was ousted because of a ‘conspiracy’ hatched by the US in
connivance with powerful local players. To date no substantive
evidence has emerged of any such grand conspiracy, and
observers have noted that the cipher sent by Pakistan’s then
envoy in Washington after meeting a State Department official,
and which lies at the heart of this affair, was a routine diplomatic
communication that was used by the PTI to gain domestic
political mileage. Since its government’s removal, the PTI has
been calling for a probe, with Mr Khan writing to the president
as well as the chief justice to investigate the cipher.
The government should take up Mr Khan’s offer and form a

probe committee acceptable to all, particularly the PTI. If the
prime minister and his allies feel such sensitive material should
not be made public in the national interest, perhaps the probe
committee can be briefed in camera. Such a committee would
help settle the question of this controversial episode in our
recent history, and may bring back PTI’s lawmakers to the House.
If Mr Khan refuses to return to the National Assembly despite the
findings of a credible probe committee, his bluff would stand
exposed. However, if Imran Khan and his party’s MNAs do return
to the House, it would be a victory for democracy in Pakistan.
Settling matters on the streets and further raising political
temperatures is not the sensible route; parliament is the right
forum for both sides to address their differences, and reach
compromises that would help extricate Pakistan from the
political paralysis it is currently experiencing. Mr Khan has
lobbed the ball into the ruling coalition’s court, and now it is up
to the PDM to take matters forward.
Opinion
Noon leaks - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1712214/noon-leaks
September 27, 2022
A SET of audio clippings of discreetly recorded, closed-door

conversations between the prime minister and other key
decision-makers have surfaced on social media — capturing the
nation’s attention at a time when political tensions are on the
boil. The content of these recordings will be dissected in great
detail by opinion makers in the coming days. The PTI has already
started spinning them in its favour: pointing fingers at Maryam
Nawaz and demanding that the chief election commissioner
resign. There is an element of hesitation even in the PTI’s
posturing, however, as the national security implications of this
leak become clearer. The biggest question at the moment is how
a lapse of such grave proportions happened on the watch of
multiple security institutions tasked with protecting the prime
minister against exactly such threats.
When former finance minister Shaukat Tarin’s telephone call

with Taimur Jhagra over the IMF deal was ‘leaked’ recently, there
had been little question about who may have been snooping in
on their conversation. Phone tapping is par for the course in a
country where civilian leaders are fair game for illegal
surveillance and few care about individuals’ right to privacy.
However, things seem quite different this time, as everything
about these latest leaks raises questions. Firstly, the clippings that
have been released so far do not seem to be from recordings of
intercepted telephone calls. Instead, a recording or bugging
device seems to have been placed inside PM Office, the security
of which is the responsibility of the Intelligence Bureau and the
Special Branch. As of now, it is unclear how many places were
bugged, how long the bug or bugs remained active, and why they
were not detected. Then there is the question of how these audios
have been released. Some reports suggest that a large cache of
audio recordings was uploaded to a hackers’ forum sometime
last month and offered for sale. A clipping from the cache was
also seemingly uploaded to Twitter much earlier this month, but
appeared to have evaded attention till this weekend. Were these
carefully placed red herrings, or is an external player actually
involved? Relatedly, will more such clips be released in the
coming days, or have the ones already released done the job?
The serving prime minister and his cabinet are not ordinary
people, or even out-of-favour politicians whose privacy may be
casually compromised without many consequences. Their
conversations are not something that ought to be on the internet
for anyone with money to purchase and listen to. This is a
national security emergency that ought to be investigated at the
highest level. Heads must roll. For a security apparatus obsessed
with ‘5G warfare’ and what dissenters are saying online, the fact
that conversations hosted by the country’s chief executive are
available on the internet is a major embarrassment.
Opinion
Wages of history - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1712215/wages-of-history
September 27, 2022
POPULARITY is the buzz today. It is presumed to hold the key to

the future of the country. Partly owing to the musings on social
media, the swashbuckling PTI chairman is regarded by many as
the country’s most popular political leader and a putative king.
Frivolous hypothesis, rather than informed opinion, accordingly

reigns. Possibility readily mutates into fact. It is in this limbo of
virtual reality — or at the razor’s edge — that we have developed
the somewhat unfortunate habit of living.
This is of course due, in part, to a built-in quirkiness within the

system itself. Change may be a constant of politics and history.
But it is not — necessarily — constant. Pakistan is, however, the
grand exception to the rule, having historically been in a state of
perpetual flux.
There is, as a result, a kind of Freudian death drive embedded in

the national psyche. We will political change to come about — for
the sake of change — regardless of the possible cost to the state.
Frivolous hypothesis, rather than informed opinion, reigns.
Whatever the case, this is no time for change — through

confrontation or any other means — but, rather, for restraint and
solidarity. Measures of desperation are also not in order. But
there are those who are not convinced.
The recurrent call for elections together with the proposed long
march of the PTI chairman, in the teeth of the devastation of one-
third of the country is a case in point. Not only is it singularly ill-
timed but smacks, all too blatantly, of political adventurism.
There is, however, no longer room for opportunism or adventure

— or for improvising a future replete with potential hazard —
where conscionable thought and action alone can, properly, pass
muster.
History has spoken. It is telling us, clearly, that there has been a
paradigm shift in the country and that a new, post-diluvial era
has set in. That means that a new set of criteria and a whole new
thinking must also replace the old.
The prime minister, more perhaps than others, is aware of this

and the fact that a new politics — a politics of circumspectness
and care — must take the place of a typical neoliberal politics of
power.
The conventional, headlong drive towards modernity will
inevitably have to be reined in while the painful process of
economic recovery in the country takes place. Economic growth
will also necessarily have to be balanced, in the future, with
social as well as environmental protection.
In view of the unwholesome living conditions in the relevant

areas prior to the floods, a programme of re-housing rather than
mere rehabilitation of the victims of the floods should also —
whatever it takes and regardless of where we get the necessary
funds from — be considered.
In such an extreme situation, the PTI chairman would be well

advised to lay aside his rhetoric — and his Damocles’ sword —
and engage in a credible form of dialogue with the government.
Rather than debate a possible date for elections, he should join in

developing a national programme for the most productive way
forward in relation to the many thousands who have lost all.
That would be in his best interest as well as a service to the

nation. It is certainly the need of the hour. The PTI head must
realise that his image will only be hurt and his vaunted
popularity diminish as a result of his continuing, at such a time,
to harp on a return, at all costs, to power.
In any case, we cannot, under the present circumstances, afford

to let Pakistan continue to be a political battleground. If there are
misconceptions on the score of freedom, they can be countered
with the appropriate facts. Democratic rights and freedoms in
today’s Pakistan are, for instance, duly in place.
In a global world where interdependence is of the essence, our
sovereignty too cannot be held to be in question. Any rhetoric of
‘freedom’ can therefore be said to be oxymoronic and lack all
force.
The cricket star-turned-politician appears to have forgotten that

what initially earned him a name and moved many in the
country was not his politics but the lofty cause he had earlier
espoused: of philanthropy and social work.
An opportunity for him to prove his mettle in that particular field

is once again at hand. That will earn him kudos as nothing else
will. The people in the relevant flood-hit areas need practical
succour above all.
No mystique or cult will make up for the slightest sign of

nonchalance or indifference or derogation of responsibility at
what is a critical juncture in our history.
What the components of both the PDM and PTI must bear in
mind is that they are all on trial at the hands of the suffering
public and will be judged on the precise basis of their
performance in relation to them at the time of elections.
No amount of ‘can’t’ will do. Nobody can claim to call the shots
where a far larger reality beckons.
The writer is the founder-chairman of Dialogue: Pakistan, a local

think tank.

Race against time - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1712216/race-against-time
September 27, 2022
IN November 2022, climate diplomacy will enter a critical phase

with the convening of the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27)
with a call for political action to close the gap to 1.5 degrees
Celsius in this decade. Egypt will host the conference with a view
to building on previous successes and paving the way for future
ambitions.
Recent events marked by extreme heatwaves, droughts and

floods around the world, exacerbated by ongoing geopolitical
tensions, and growing concerns about the social and economic
impacts of endlessly rising food and energy prices will fuel
debates and demand greater political commitments. Major
emitters will need to show more determined leadership to
reduce global emissions while addressing interlinked issues of
conservation/restoration and adaptation to escalating climate
impacts.
Loss and damage will feature high on the agenda. The escalating
costs and existing funding sources outside of the UNFCCC that
address L&D are inadequate. Recent extreme weather events like
the Pakistan floods have raised the alarm and underscored the
need for urgent action. Estimates show that the economic cost of
L&D globally could be between $290 billion and $580bn by 2030.
The least developed countries and members of the Climate
Vulnerable Forum could see a 19.6 per cent reduction in GDP by
2050 and 63.9pc by 2100. Currently, there’s no financial facility
under the UNFCCC that is mandated to provide funding to
address L&D.
The call for an L&D finance facility started in 1991 but was left
unaddressed at the Warsaw International Mechanism.
Developing countries have repeatedly articulated that new
windows under the Adaptation Fund or the Green Climate Fund
do not address the need for new and additional finance to
address L&D. The modalities for accessing finance are also not
conducive to meeting the needs of rapid response. It is important
to get developed countries to acknowledge that existing finance
and facilities are not fit for the purpose and that L&D is a
separate category of climate finance. The key ask for progress
towards an L&D finance facility under the UNFCCC will require
that all parties adopt the draft text proposed by the G77 and
China at COP26 and use it as a basis for further negotiations of
the decision text. Establishing a clear link between the Glasgow
Dialogue and the CMA/COP will help in moving forward. Pakistan
can share evidence on the current and projected scale of L&D in
different local contexts and articulate the needs, gaps and efforts
undermined by climate losses.
Loss and damage will feature high on the COP27 agenda.
As the Egyptian COP27 presidency brings the world together in

Sharm El Sheikh, all eyes will be on the implementation efforts
for an ambitious, credible and transparent climate package to
restore trust between countries and accelerate the transition
needed for a climate-compatible future. In the face of worsening
climate impacts and a strained geo-economic context, closing the
finance gap will be key to building global security and stability.
The Egyptian presidency can use the UNFCCC space to coordinate
the delivery and implementation of a climate finance package by
rallying states around an agenda of global cooperation and
accountability for climate finance.
A shared vision on the role of climate finance will serve as a
transformational enabler for accelerating ambition and
implementation of climate pledges and transitioning from fossil
fuels to clean energy. This will require: i) doubling of adaptation
finance and meeting the $100bn goal, ii) private sector
mobilisation and commitment to transparency and
accountability, iii) improved access to finance, and iv) redirection
of trillions to close investment gaps.
COP27 presents an opportunity to shape overarching political

narratives for global climate action at the end of 2022 and into
2023. This is an important time for getting a grip on the climate
crisis and unlocking a new scale of climate finance to deliver
climate-aligned development pathways this decade. The 2021
Adaptation Gap Report concluded that the finance gap is larger
than previously thought and keeps widening with estimated
adaptation costs reaching $280bn-$500bn per year by 2050 for
developing countries. Reports show that in 2020, $16.7 trillion
were deployed for Covid-19 recovery across the globe but less
than 12pc went on adaptation measures.
The COP presidency has announced its objective to use COP27 to

increase adaptation efforts and finance flows. This can be
achieved by setting numeric targets for both public and private
arms towards 50pc of climate finance allocated for adaptation.
The road to Sharm El Sheikh offers an opportunity to move

forward across all pillars of the Paris Agreement, including
delivery of promises made in Glasgow, and reengineering of the
Bretton Woods System for a sustainable and just world order. It
is a race against time that we can’t afford to lose.
The writer is chief executive of Civil Society Coalition for Climate
Change.
aisha@csccc.org.pk

Foreign policies brewed at home
dawn.com/news/1712217/foreign-policies-brewed-at-home
September 27, 2022
IT’S a given that foreign policies of nations represent their

national circumstances. Circumstances change, policies change.
They changed for Pakistan from Jinnah to Bhutto to Zia.
Likewise, the Nehruvian state has been supplanted by a
grotesquely anti-Nehruvian state.
For a quaint example, there was a time when India would offer
beautifully produced Taj Mahal and Meenakshi temple coffee
table books from its treasure of secular memorabilia to share
with distinguished visitors. That was its home policy woven into
foreign policy. It’s how India was and still is seen by many
foreigners, as a miraculously working democracy with an
enviable multicultural heritage. However, today’s India offers
copies of the Geeta, the sacred Hindu text, which was in any case
always loved as Gandhiji’s inspiration for willpower and courage.
A copy of the Geeta would be placed in hotel drawers, sometimes
separately, at others together with Gideon’s Bible.
Religious books were deemed India’s private assets and were not
offered as presents to foreigners. There was also the stark
question, why not the Quran or the Bible or the Guru Granth
Sahib? India was not out to proselytise the world. It was
flaunting its core strength, a grand mingling of cultures that
made for a proud heritage. It’s not how it would like to be
recognised by anybody today, not with the Taj Mahal, anyway,
which the current rulers shun as a symbol of Muslim rule.
Citizens don’t always approve of their country’s changing foreign

policies. They are not always in consonance with the state’s
foreign or even domestic filters. The anti-Vietnam war movement
in the US remains an instructive example of masses opposing an
unpopular policy abroad. It’s difficult currently to conceive of
such a movement in India or Pakistan that opposes sour relations
between the two though small groups in both countries are
trying to usher a change.
Not all countries are willing to heed foreign diktat.
Let’s not overstate the power of the common man always. The
founding purposes of an unpopular policy need not evaporate
with a solitary change enforced by an upsurge in a given case.
The US certainly didn’t abandon its habit of invading countries or
subverting their system of governments despite the humiliation
in Vietnam or more recently in Afghanistan. The symptom is an
amalgam of cultural traits and economics, jingoism being the
moral compass. “We have the ships; we have the men; we have
the money too.” The lines belong to 19th-century England in the
context of — no surprises — the Russo-Turkish war. The
economics sustaining the jingoist ditty is what Dwight
Eisenhower described with worry and derision as the country’s
military-industrial complex.
Remember the retainers coming to the fading and waning feudal

lord in the classic movie Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam? They showed
their master their knives and daggers, and complained: “Majesty,
these are getting rusted. There’s no work to do.” Majesty gives
them an assignment to murder the rebellious bride of his
younger brother. “We have unparalleled destructive means, so
what do we do with it?” America’s existential dilemma is couched
in this terrifying question, bad news for the world.
Cynicism and greed thus work at cross purposes with people at

home. The US didn’t like the Minsk agreements designed by
Germany and France to remove lingering differences between
Russia and Ukraine. The accords would pre-empt the need for the
current conflict and allow Ukraine, Russia and the rest of Europe
to live in relative peace, possibly even harmony. But that would
have kept Washington out of the loop, an affront to its military
and economic architecture embodied in Nato — the lethal
military complex Eisenhower warned of. (A brief digression:
Geoff Pyatt, the US ambassador in Kyiv, instrumental in laying
the grounds for US intervention in the Russia-Ukraine stand-off
by undermining the two major European powers, was also the
political secretary at the US embassy in New Delhi that
supervised India’s transition from the centrist Congress to its first
right-wing establishment under A.B. Vajpayee.)
Not all countries are willing to heed foreign diktat. The Non-
Aligned Movement was a platform for nations that had their own
mind on foreign policies independent of Cold War blocs. It would
have been difficult to imagine an Indian leader in those days
either shunning the leader of a superpower, a more difficult part
being to see them expressing unalloyed love for either.
Manmohan Singh broke ranks here by sharing the unique insight

with George W. Bush Jr that Indians loved the visiting US
president. That was one time that communist leader Prakash
Karat perked up, telling Singh to speak for himself. The point
here is that a Pew survey had only then revealed that Bush was
the most unpopular leader in the world, including Europe. India
was said to be the sole exception. But Pew was misled. Massive
protests against the Bush visit showed that Singh was not
speaking for India. Then Narendra Modi went to Houston and
declared Donald Trump his second-term candidate in the White
House. Wonder if that wish has waned at all.
Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishanker is currently promoting

India’s balancing of ties with the US and Russia as a unique and
laudable feature of the time. Truth be told, the policy is exactly
what Nehru conceived it as, which gave India a primary role in
ushering peace in the Korean War, with Indira Gandhi sharing
her angst at the Soviet incursion into Afghanistan, both
scrupulously embracing the non-aligned oath.
Canvassing for a favourite American president would not go with

India’s non-aligned worldview. As India indicated its tilt to the
West, Iran took the opposite direction. Iranian rage propelled
Jimmy Carter to fall flat on the face with a single-term
presidency. The ignominy only worsened when the Carter
campaign strove to undermine Ronald Reagan, calling him a C-
grade actor. Reagan’s supporters invented a memorable repartee:
“A C-grade actor is better than a clown.” Iran won that US
election.
The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.
jawednaqvi@gmail.com

Three headlines, three crises
dawn.com/news/1712219/three-headlines-three-crises
September 27, 2022
THE previous week began with high-profile UN meetings and

international hobnobbing and ended with a judicial conference,
audio leaks from the Prime Minister’s Office and an unsurprising
change at the finance ministry.
Stories were big and small but each one of them hinted at the
real crisis of the state and governance, if we could look beyond
the headlines. In between the details of the news stories, which
come and go rapidly, can be found hints of what really ails us.
Here are three such stories and what they say about the crises we
need to address.
Judiciary. At the judicial conference on Friday, the chief justice of
the Islamabad High Court spoke of the good, the bad and the ugly
aspects of the judiciary. While he focused on past decisions and
what they stand for at present, the event in general also
reminded one of another crisis facing the institution — the
polarisation within.
These divisions have been obvious for some time. There is no

effort to hide them. From the case against Justice Faez Isa to the
recent letter spree about appointments and benches, the fault
lines are rather public.
In between the details of news stories can be found hints of what really ails us.
Not all of these issues are new. From the time of Iftikhar
Chaudhry, there have been murmurs about, say, the manner in
which the chief justice used his powers to form benches and how
there was a tendency to fill them with like-minded judges. But
back then, the ‘revolution’ to restore the judiciary and ensure its
‘independence’ had just taken place and few were willing to
speak of the issues too publicly. After all, the moral legitimacy of
the first leader of any ‘revolution’ is rarely challenged. Over time,
this authority fades and traditions set by him are questioned.
What we are witnessing is something similar regarding the
formation of benches, the appointment of judges and even the
purely political cases which have been taken up by the courts.
This is not such a worrisome development. But focus on it tends
to camouflage the more serious crisis for the judicial edifice.
This crisis exists at the level of the lower judiciary, where those
looking for justice face delays, where judges can be influenced by
the ligating parties, the state and the lawyers themselves. Before
and after the Iftikhar Chaudhry restoration, stories about judges
being beaten up by lawyers and influenced by militant
organisations or powerful stakeholders have been aplenty. The
recent change of fortune for politicians vis-à-vis their
‘corruption’ trials are a case in point.
This truly is the bigger crisis and is evident in the video going
viral of Justice Isa where he asks an audience if they are satisfied
with the judicial system. No one raises their hand. Let’s not forget
this happened around the same weekend that the two parties in
the Nazim Jokhio case came to a resolution.
The institution: This year has also laid bare the crisis among
those who cannot be named. Never before have their role been
discussed so much and so loudly. And it is not just because of the
hushed whispers of the differences of opinion within but more
because of the events leading to the vote of no-confidence. The
popular explanation which has emerged since is that of Khan’s
preferences for the November appointment — whether this
perception has been created or is the truth is now irrelevant. The
story is selling and it implies that the ones who can’t be named
are now a shadow of their former self. For why else would a
prime minister’s efforts to choose his apna banda (own man)
succeed where all his predecessors had failed? Pakistan’s history
has been shaped by those who were brought in to be loyal to a
politician but ended up being loyal to their mother organisation.
But this time around, apparently, no one could count on it. So,
has something changed within?
These bad thoughts refuse to go away. Since April, there has been
unending speculation of what will happen in November — more
of the same or tabdeeli? But the real issue is that one position has
held hostage the entire country, its politics and its economy, and
the organisation itself.
If this is a sign of strength, I wonder what weakness looks like. If
a prime minister is elected, or another removed or one man
silenced or not silenced, it is all linked to the ones who can’t be
named and their internal politics. Will the Sharifs last or not, will
Khan return or not, will there be peace with India or not;
whatever the question may be, the answer is only one. To wait
till November passes. And we are too scared to ask if this
obsession is more worrying for us or for those who remain
unnamed.
Gatekeepers: Last but the biggest news to come our way this
weekend was the change of financial czars. After all, the fragile
and unstable state of our economy is our biggest story — and has
been since 2018. We discuss it every day and we all have our
view on what the root cause is, from instability to incompetence
to corruption to elite capture.
But the real crisis, it seems, is that our gatekeepers remain

oblivious to the issue, its causes and the changing times. They
want more of the same: easy loans, IMF, short-term solutions.
This is why we keep obsessing about the management of
numbers and ‘hard talks’ with the IMF rather than reform. And
this is also why they end up picking the same five or six men who
have all played their part in getting the economy to where it is.
For, the gatekeepers — political parties, the establishment and
commentators — keep rejecting the likes of Asad Umar and
Miftah Ismail (who despite their faults wanted change) to pick
Hafeez Shaikh, Shaukat Tarin and Ishaq Dar. Because they still
think it is possible to convince the world to give us an easy pass,
it is still possible to use administrative methods to manage the
economy and survive by applying quick fixes to inflation and
growth rate. The world has changed; Pakistan has changed but
our gatekeepers refuse to do so.
The writer is a journalist.

Relic of colonialism
dawn.com/news/1711925/relic-of-colonialism
September 25, 2022
THE law on sedition, one of several holdovers of colonial times, is

among the most handy instruments for controlling the citizenry.
On Saturday, a petition filed by PTI leader Shireen Mazari
seeking the annulment of the PPC’s Section 124-A, which pertains
to sedition, was dismissed by the Islamabad High Court for being
non-maintainable. Like most laws designed not for the ends of
justice but as a tool to suppress dissent, this one is also phrased
in extremely broad language, allowing the authorities
considerable leeway when they do decide to detain someone
under its provisions. Given that life imprisonment is the
maximum punishment stipulated for sedition, that makes it a
formidable weapon with which to beat down today’s recalcitrant
‘natives’. Fortunately, the courts have taken a lenient view and
anyone being prosecuted under the section has been acquitted at
some point.
PTI leader Shahbaz Gill is among the latest who have found
themselves charged with sedition, after a television interview in
which he uttered language that, in the words of Interior Minister
Rana Sanaullah, was intended “to create rifts” within the
military’s ranks. Mr Gill was granted bail after more than a
month in custody. Earlier, during the PTI government, an FIR was
registered against several PML-N leaders, including Nawaz
Sharif, for sedition. And now sedition allegations are flying thick
and fast. The PTI’s provincial government in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa last month announced it was filing FIRs against
several PDM leaders — apparently in retaliation against Mr Gill’s
travails. A sedition law has no place in a democracy, and violates
several fundamental rights including freedom of expression.
Moreover, international law holds that even trenchant criticism
of the government and its institutions is protected. Indeed,
Gandhi wore the charge of sedition brought against him in 1922
like a badge of honour, describing the law as “perhaps the prince
among the political sections of the Indian Penal Code designed to
suppress the liberty of a citizen”. The sooner it is removed from
the statute books, the better.
Opinion
Dengue concerns - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1711926/dengue-concerns
September 25, 2022
AS weather conditions change in Pakistan, the threat of dengue

looms large over the land. According to a warning issued by the
Met department last week, the current weather conditions in the
country mean that a dengue outbreak is on the horizon,
specifically in 10 cities. These include Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar
and Rawalpindi-Islamabad. Our creaky health infrastructure is
already being severely tested — just as in years past — by
thousands of dengue cases across the country. According to
figures published in the media, Sindh has logged in over 7,000
cases, while KP comes in second with more than 6,000 cases.
Hospitals in Karachi, for example, are reportedly flooded with
patients, while some public health institutions in the city have
apparently stopped admitting dengue cases. Meanwhile, millions
of flood-affected people are also vulnerable to vector-borne
ailments. This means that unless there is a nationally
coordinated anti-dengue campaign, the illness risks spreading
further, with the health infrastructure incapable of coping with a
deluge of cases and fumigation efforts unable to keep pace with
mosquito breeding.
Punjab has in the past successfully dealt with dengue outbreaks,

and proven methods need to be deployed to keep the virus-
bearing mosquitoes at bay. Experts have stressed the need to
fumigate dengue larvae to prevent the mosquitoes from
proliferating. The administration in Karachi claims it has
undertaken a fumigation campaign, but most citizens have yet to
see the successful effects of this anti-dengue operation. The fact is
that the authorities in all the provinces facing the dengue threat
need to shake off their lethargy, and deal with this public health
emergency before it metastasises into an epidemic. Regular
spraying and ensuring sanitary conditions in cities and towns
can play an effective role in reducing vector-borne ailments such
as dengue, malaria and chikungunya. Health authorities also
need to use the mainstream and social media to communicate
messages about dengue prevention, and where to get treatment
if a case is suspected. The Sindh government has reduced the
prices of dengue tests, but clichéd as it may sound, prevention is
better than the cure, so the emphasis should be on getting rid of
the dengue mosquitoes before they can infect large chunks of the
populace. International best practices on fighting dengue exist
which need to be reviewed by our health experts. Pakistan has
had several years to understand and come to terms with the
dengue threat. The state must now prioritise public healthcare.
Opinion
Debt deferment - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1711927/debt-deferment
September 25, 2022
PAKISTAN is seeking deferment of its bilateral debt of nearly

$10bn for a few years, which, if approved by the wealthy Paris
Club creditors, will save it $1.1bn in loan repayments this fiscal
year. That will ease pressure on the nation’s dwindling foreign
exchange reserves, that have already dropped to $8.3bn, and
generate some space for the government to rehabilitate and
reconstruct after the floods. An announcement to this effect was
made by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail a day after the prime
minister said in an interview that all hell would break loose if the
rich countries did not immediately provide Pakistan debt relief
to help it get back on its feet. However, in order to calm jittery
investors, the minister also sought to assure Pakistan’s creditors
that “we are neither seeking, nor do we need, any relief from
commercial banks”. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has already
requested the IMF to release the remaining amount of around
$3bn from its bailout programme in November. Separately, a
draft UN policy paper advises creditors to “consider debt relief so
that policymakers can prioritise financing its disaster response
over loan repayment”; it suggests debt restructuring or swaps,
where creditors would let go of repayments in exchange for the
country agreeing to invest in infrastructure resilient to climate
change.
For long, Pakistan has faced severe external financing challenges.

Even before the current floods, it was struggling to tackle its
growing balance-of-payments troubles, as official and private
capital inflows slumped, the import bill soared to unsustainable
levels amid high global energy and food prices, and exports
declined because of recessionary pressures in the advanced
economies. Reserves continue to erode. Pakistan’s dollar funding
needs for the next five years, projected by the IMF at $181bn for
the next five years, have never been so large and the world’s
appetite to hold its hands never so poor. The calamitous floods
could not have come at a worse time. With its public sector
foreign debt standing at $97bn at the end of the last fiscal,
Islamabad is scheduled to pay $75.4bn, including $9.4bn in
interest payments, in the next five years. True, much of this debt
will get rolled over, but the country will still need a significant
amount of dollars to meet its debt obligations.
The experience of recent months shows that bilateral and

multilateral creditors are reluctant to advance fresh loans due
mainly to our constant craving for their money and failure to put
our house in order. But the world must help Pakistan in its tough
times. It is true that had Pakistan taken steps to strengthen its
economy over the years, matters might not have been as
precarious as they are today. And yet, at this time, Pakistan’s debt
should be deferred, swapped and forgiven. Helping Pakistan get
back on its feet won’t be possible without outside help.
Opinion
Russian roulette - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1711928/russian-roulette
September 25, 2022
CHURCHILL said it best: “Dictators ride to and fro on Tigers, from

which they dare not dismount.” That clearly seems to be the case
with Vladimir Putin, de facto czar of whatever remains of the
Russias. Faced with humiliating reversals in a war he seemed to
think would be over in a week (it’s been almost 220 days) and on
which he has staked his increasingly tattered reputation, Putin
saw no option but to double down. So, the Kremlin announced a
‘partial mobilisation’ of up to 300,000 reservists which will
presumably tip the scales in his favour. Before going into what
actual difference this deployment will make, let’s examine why it
was needed to begin with.
The war started with almost everyone expecting the Russian
army to walk all over Ukraine, and capture Kyiv fairly early,
causing a wider collapse of the Ukrainian resistance. However,
the paratrooper operation intended to quickly seize the Hostomel
airport failed, and while this was initially written off as a
temporary setback, the approach of a 60-kilometre-long Russian
military convoy was touted as the force before which the
Ukrainians would be helpless.
That convoy, slowed by mechanical breakdowns, lack of

discipline and zero strategic guidance, never reached its target
and ultimately dispersed. The inability to establish air
superiority meant that Russia could not use the brutal tactics it
employed in Chechnya, and more recently in the Syrian cities of
Aleppo and Idlib, which were effectively bombed into rubble to
crush resistance.
Putin then implied that his actual goal was never the conquest of
Ukraine, and redeployed his forces in the Donetsk and Luhansk
areas where he undoubtedly hoped for better luck, given that in
2014 his forces had seized this area and set up puppet regimes.
Will the new soldiers tip the balance?
Meanwhile, Western arms and equipment flowed into Ukraine,

and while the impact of these arms — especially the long-range
High Mobility Artillery Rocket System provided by the US — was
significant (the Turkish Bayraktars deserve a special mention)
was immense, there is a significant lag between receiving
weapons and being trained in their effective use. That time was
won by the undoubtedly dogged resistance put up by the
Ukrainians, aided by the utter incompetence of the Russian
military.
On the one hand, the Ukrainians — who had developed a strong
sense of nationhood in the decades following the collapse of the
Soviet Union — were fighting to defend their homes and lands,
while on the other, the bulk of the Russian army was not even
aware it was about to go to war. In the initial weeks and months,
it was easy to discard reports of Russian indiscipline, equipment
malfunctions and general inefficiency as ‘Western propaganda’,
but now it is clear that most of those reports were accurate. More
damningly, reports about murder, torture and rape committed by
Russian troops are increasingly being verified and served to
stiffen Ukrainian resistance.
Stalemated Russian troops then fell prey to a counteroffensive

that will undoubtedly be studied by military strategists for
decades to come: through strategic deception, Ukraine made
Russia believe that its counteroffensive would focus on retaking
Kherson, a logical target of any such operation, which made
Russia redeploy its stretched troops in that region. But the actual
counteroffensive was aimed at the logistic hub of Kupyansk and
was so successful that Ukraine recaptured almost as much
territory in a few days as Russia had conquered since the onset of
war.
And so, despite Putin himself promising there would be no wider

mobilisation, hundreds of thousands of Russians are being
drafted into service, a move that has sparked scattered protests
across Russia. This is significant as the protesters are fully aware
of the consequences of defying the Kremlin but are making their
anger heard nonetheless. Will the new soldiers tip the balance?
Given that most of these are highly reluctant warriors who will
receive only basic training for a few weeks, it is doubtful that
they will have the morale and unit cohesion to rise against the
motivated and well-armed Ukrainians. Already, we are seeing
videos of drunk and despairing recruits abusing the military
commissars, along with images of men in their 50s being pressed
into service.
Indeed, if reports are to be believed, the new soldiers are being

equipped with obsolete steel helmets and armed with rifles that
were antiquated in World War II. The Russian mercenary outfit,
Wagner, has even been seen recruiting in high-security prisons,
promising murderers and rapists a pardon if they serve in
Ukraine for six months.
Having staked so much on this war, Putin cannot back off. It is

ironic that a man who so successfully built an image of being a
master strategist, and was successful in amplifying divisions in
the West through asymmetrical information warfare, has, in fact,
ended up revitalising Nato and united the West … against
himself.
Twitter: @zarrarkhuhro

Hold on tight - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1711929/hold-on-tight
September 25, 2022
AS one with vivid memories of Pakistan of the 1960s, one is

nervous about today’s Pakistan. While ‘development and
progress’ have been our leaders’ buzzwords, their definition and
implementation have been driven by optics devoid of substance.
The various stages and strategies of our development have led to

international-quality motorways, a prolific auto industry, a
booming real estate (which is gobbling up farmland) and an
improved telecom system driven by user-friendly technology and
nothing else. But we’ve neglected education, destroying our
government schools and shifting quality education to the pricier
private sector. The regulators have duped the common people
into believing that their children were getting MBA and MCom
degrees when such graduates were not aware of even the basics
of their ‘specialisation’. Educational neglect is unending because
the gestation period for results is long and no political leader has
the time.
The health sector may have seen marginal improvement, but

again, initiatives are for immediate gain and not to fix the basic
health bureaucracy. An example is the latest health card scheme.
It does give relief to the poor but eases the pressure on the
government to fix the basic health machinery. Moreover, the
funds come from the development, instead of the operational,
budget.
Local government, the building block of good governance,

continues to be ignored because it does not suit the clout of
politicians higher in the pecking order.
In our case, the past is another country.
Gone are the days when one could see beldars watering and
repairing canals and distributaries on a daily basis while you
drove over unpaved canal banks. The railways, once the
backbone of communication and a pleasure to use, has been
wrecked by prioritising motorway communication. The civil
bureaucracy, the engine of all governance, has been demolished
by internal bickering brought on by undue reforms and insecure
politicians infringing on the rights of civil servants.
All institutions have weakened and some made redundant. One

recalls the lost glory of PIA, Wapda, SNGPL, EPB (the present
TDAP), TCP, NSC (shipping), and of the chief secretary, IG,
establishment secretary, etc. Now, only officers and executives
not bothered about sullying their reputation seek to head these
organisations.
On the financial side, in the cautious 1960s, you needed an Open
General Licence to import anything. The principle was that the
government issued a receipt for proof of the export amount (say,
$100) and you could sell this paper in the market to an importer
who could then import something worth $100.This was an
exercise in living within your means and that is why the dollar
was Rs4.76 then.
Up to the 1990s, government development funds were very

difficult to get. Building a rural road or repairing a main highway
would take years of lobbying. Even then, the allocation was only
sufficient for a frugal project. A crore-a-kilometre road was
considered a super road. Current motorways cost Rs30 to Rs40
crore a kilometre. It was around that time that we started
pretending to be a successful country and stopped living within
our means, ending up with fiscal deficits of unheard and
unsustainable proportions.
Pretending to be a modern developing country, we threw out the

import substitution strategy and adopted export-led growth. The
perceived benefits of a liberal import policy considered essential
for increasing exports and being compliant with World Trade
Organisation (WTO) principles has taken us to a stage where our
exports amount to $32 billion and imports $80bn. The
unintended benefit of remittances by labour and professionals
who went abroad without the state’s help saved us from
complete collapse. But our extravagance and penchant for
goodies even First World residents can’t afford has neutralised
the benefit of these remittances.
We seem so overawed by multilateral bodies like the WTO that

the government recently reversed its ban on imports of luxury
items to save us from default, because of the reported pressure of
the WTO. It’s difficult to digest.
In the 1960s, there were no glitzy DHAs, no SUVS, no Porsches

and Audis, no restaurants with imported steaks for Rs19,000 a
piece, no destination weddings; but then, one did not get
butterflies in the stomach for fear of national bankruptcy. There
was no feeling of inferiority vis-à-vis Indians and now
Bangladeshis. There was no remorse at having advised your
children to make a life in their own country rather than pursue
their dreams abroad.
Whom should one blame? Our politicians, bureaucracy,

businessmen, the army whose think tanks and individuals’
ambitions have not been able to steady the ship through political
engineering? Their engineering skills have worsened matters.
With no easy answers, this may be the time to hold on to your

seats like one does while flying in turbulent weather and hope
you emerge in one piece to enjoy a smoother flight later.
The writer is a former civil servant.
tasneem.m.noorani@gmail.com

Time for a new beginning
dawn.com/news/1711930/time-for-a-new-beginning
September 25, 2022
FORMER prime minister Imran Khan may have his own reasons
to lash out at the ‘establishment’, but the fact is that the subject of
civil-military relations has been around for a long time.
However, it has never been discussed so openly in Pakistan as
the PTI chairman has done recently.
The candour and bitterness of his narrative has continued to

intensify with each rally and media appearance. While he has
indirectly complained about a number of issues over the past five
months, he has specifically criticised the establishment for
making him accept the name of the present chief election
commissioner for appointment to that post by giving personal
assurances. He also acknowledged the use of agencies in nudging
his parliamentary allies to vote for certain bills and the annual
budget in the National Assembly — although it is difficult to
decide whether this phenomenon reflected more poorly on Mr
Khan, his former allies or the agencies.
A similar stir was created when another former prime minister,

Nawaz Sharif, spoke publicly on the subject about two years ago
and shocked everyone, including his allies in the Pakistan
Democratic Movement, by not only strongly criticising but also
naming names within the establishment.
Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif are not the only prime ministers
who have publicly expressed dissatisfaction about relations with
the establishment. Former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s
“There can be no state within the state” speech in the National
Assembly in 2011 was an expression of extreme exasperation in
his dealings with the establishment. Even prime minister
Muhammad Khan Junejo who was handpicked by Gen Ziaul Haq
developed differences with him to a point that he was sacked by
the general. In addition to what might have transpired behind
closed doors or in confidential communications, the military has
also publicly criticised the government of the day on several
occasions. During the ‘Dawn Leaks’ saga in 2017, the DG ISPR’s
infamous tweet saying “rejected” to a notification of the Prime
Minister’s Office may be cited as a low-water mark although,
thankfully, the tweet was ‘withdrawn’ about 10 days later.
There is a need to discuss in a strategic manner all the issues affecting civil-
military ties.
Although mainstream media has generally been circumspect

about public expressions of these differences, social media
content on the subject has grown manifold, not only in terms of
volume but in its intensity and, in some cases, ugliness too. The
occasional but regularly repeated schism between the elected
national leadership and the establishment is no more a topic of
drawing room discussions. It is out there in the open, with people
taking and expressing strong positions, sometimes even being
critical of the establishment.
If opinions critical of the establishment in reference to civil-

military relations resonate today, it is because so much has
happened, and has been said and written on the subject during
the past 70 years or so. Imran Khan may just be capitalising on
the feeling that was already prevalent in the public. The military
coups/ takeovers of 1958, 1969, 1977, 1999, and the so-called
emergency of 2007, and some disastrous decisions such as the
Kargil war, contributed to the rise of adverse opinions among the
public. Retired Lt Gen Hameed Gul, former DG ISI, publicly
admitted that he and his organisation were instrumental in
creating the IJI alliance to defeat, or at least blunt the possible
victory of, Benazir Bhutto in the 1988 election. Then there was
the affidavit submitted by retired Lt Gen Asad Durrani, another
former DG ISI, about the organisation’s involvement in
disbursing funds among certain favoured politicians in the 1990
election, allegedly on the directions of the then COAS, Gen Aslam
Beg.
The continued baggage of the past and the current state of civil-
military relations is creating serious divisions within almost all
segments of society, including those which are too sensitive to be
exposed to any such divisions. Pakistan also can’t afford to
weaken its armed forces. Although the tension has hurt the
country for a good chunk of its history, sadly there has been
hardly any tangible effort to resolve it in a strategic manner.
Even now, most of the discussion is about how Imran Khan can
be persuaded or pressurised to stop raising the issue in public.
There is a real need to discuss all the issues affecting civil-
military relations in a strategic and dispassionate manner
considering both sides’ views and with the Constitution as the
basis of the dialogue. Fortunately, Pakistan has the institutional
infrastructure in the form of the National Security Committee to
start discussing the subject. As a first step, the civil and military
leadership represented in the NSC should be willing and
prepared to initiate a series of interactions on the subject. The
committee, in due time, may extend a special invitation to some
opposition leaders like Imran Khan also to take part in some of
the sittings to enhance the effectiveness of the engagement. One
should be under no illusion that these problems can be resolved
in one or a few sittings. The objective may require hard work,
especially on the part of the NSC Secretariat and continuous
engagement of members extending possibly over several months.
The perceived or real encroachment of the establishment on

decision-making regarding key national matters, the weaknesses
of the civilian side which prompt such encroachment and the
short- and long-term effects of these encroachments on the state,
may be the key items on the agenda of such a strategic dialogue.
Perceived ‘interference’ in political and electoral matters may
also need to be discussed. The objective of the engagement
should be that both the political leadership and the
establishment end up strictly abiding by the roles demarcated for
them in the Constitution.
With the next general election due within a year and a new
military leadership about to take charge, this may be the right
time to start conceptualising and preparing to address issues
relating to civil-military relations like a mature society.
The writer is president of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative
Development And Transparency.
president@pildat.org
Twitter: @ABMPildat

Peril and paralysis
dawn.com/news/1711931/peril-and-paralysis
September 25, 2022
IN his opening address to the UN General Assembly, Secretary

General António Guterres issued a stark warning about the
troubled state of the world. “We are gridlocked in colossal global
dysfunction”, as a result of geopolitical divides, turmoil, deadly
conflicts, climate catastrophes, food crisis, rising inequality and
poverty. This dire situation held great peril, especially with trust
declining in democratic institutions, respect eroding for
international law and faith diminishing in international
solidarity. Despite “the logic of cooperation” there was no
“collective problem solving”. The UN chief called for “a coalition
of the world” to redress this alarming situation. Warning of a
“winter of global discontent” he said a splintering world needed
hope and action. And above all, “common solutions to common
problems”.
It was but obvious that Guterres would mention the Russian
invasion of Ukraine and the devastation caused by the war. But
any expectation that his words would calm the situation was
quickly dashed. A day after his speech, Russian President
Vladimir Putin announced a further escalation of the seven-
month crisis. He said hundreds of thousands of army reservists
would be deployed in Ukraine in a partial mobilisation of
Russian forces. He also threatened to use nuclear weapons to
defend Russia. This followed his plan unveiled earlier to hold
‘referendums’ in Ukraine’s four regions under Russian control in
a bid to ‘formally’ integrate them into Russia. Voting on this has
already begun.
These moves came on the heels of a series of military and

diplomatic reversals for Moscow. Militarily, a counteroffensive
by Western-backed Ukrainian forces resulted in seizing a
significant chunk of territory back from the Russians.
Diplomatically, meetings on the sidelines of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation summit laid bare the limits of support
for Russian actions from even its closest allies. In the first in-
person meeting between Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping
after the invasion of Ukraine, the Chinese leader conveyed his
misgivings over escalation of the crisis. Putin later acknowledged
that “concerns and questions” were raised by the Chinese
president. Similarly, during Putin’s meeting with India’s prime
minister, Narendra Modi is reported to have voiced concern and
convey that this was “not an era of war”.
The Ukraine crisis isn’t the only challenge to international peace

and stability. The world is also being destabilised by the fallout
from the US-China confrontation, which is a defining feature of
the global landscape today. Unprecedented tensions between the
two global powers have ensued in most part from America’s
policy to contain China which is being met by an assertive
response from Beijing. At UNGA, President Joe Biden said he
wanted to be “direct about the competition between the United
States and China”. He said, “We do not seek conflict. We do not
seek a Cold War. We do not ask any nation to choose between the
United States or any other partner.” He also reaffirmed his
country’s commitment to a ‘One China’ policy and promised the
US would “conduct itself as a reasonable leader” in “managing
shifting geopolitical trends”.
Can a fractured global community transcend its divisions to deal purposefully
with shared challenges?
But this measured tone on China has not been reflected in recent
US actions. They include the announcement of a billion-dollar
arms package for Taiwan and fresh curbs on US exports of chip
technology to Chinese companies. Both were roundly denounced
by Beijing. Also, just days before his UNGA address, Biden
reiterated that the US would defend Taiwan “militarily” if it was
attacked. This too provoked a furious Chinese response.
The resurgence of East-West tensions and intensifying US-China

confrontation have further shrunk the space for multilateral
cooperation. But multilateralism has been in retreat for well over
a decade and much before the Ukraine conflict. The undermining
of multilateralism emerged as a dominant trend in the last
decade with the rise of hyper-nationalism and right-wing
populism. Right-wing populist leaders have shown a propensity
to act unilaterally in defiance of international law and norms.
This has been evidenced in our neighbourhood by the Modi
government’s illegal annexation of occupied Jammu and Kashmir
three years ago, and subsequent actions in blatant violation of
UN Security Council resolutions.
It was also reflected in the contempt with which former

president Donald Trump treated multilateral institutions, his
‘America first’ policy and renunciation of international treaties
and agreements. The pandemic saw a telling lack of global
solidarity. The cooperation deficit on such shared challenges and
other key areas further weakened multilateralism. Tensions
between big powers and the conduct of so-called regional
‘strongmen’ have contributed to a fractured global community
and fragmentation of the international system. Indeed, a rules-
based order is under unprecedented stress due to the qualified
support of big powers. Geopolitics, not solidarity, is now the
dominant dynamic.
The UN secretary general’s emphasis on the impact of climate

change on vulnerable countries — with Pakistan as the case in
point — and what to do about it represented a key part of his
speech. Lashing out at the West’s fossil fuels industry for making
windfall profits, he called for these profits to be taxed and funds
from them directed to afflicted countries to address losses caused
to them by the climate crisis. Guterres squarely placed the issue
of justice at the centre of the global debate on the climate crisis.
He pointed out that the G20 emits 80 per cent of all carbon
emissions. On the other hand, Pakistan’s contribution to global
greenhouse gas emissions is under 1pc but it is the world’s
seventh most vulnerable country to climate change and is reeling
today from its ravages. That is why Pakistan is leading a
developing country effort to establish a global fund to help states
afflicted by climate-induced disasters. Whether Western
countries, long sceptical about this, can be persuaded to change
their mind is unclear. But protesters across the world are now
demanding climate justice, urging developed countries to
compensate poorer states for the damage climate change is
inflicting on them.
Faced with a world in peril, the bigger question is whether

developed states and big powers can transcend their divisions
and rivalries to deal with shared challenges. In spite of Guterres’
clarion call to “act as one”, it is hard to be hopeful on that count.
The writer is a former ambassador to the US, UK & UN.

Iran hijab protests
dawn.com/news/1711859/iran-hijab-protests
September 24, 2022
FOR over a week now, Iran has been witnessing considerable

tumult after a young woman died earlier this month in the
custody of the country’s morality police. Mahsa Amini was
visiting Tehran with her family when she was reportedly
apprehended by members of the force for not complying with
the country’s strict dress code. Activists blame the young
woman’s death on police brutality, while the authorities claim
she died as a result of a “heart attack”. Numerous demonstrators
have been killed as the state has sought to crush the protests,
while security men have also been targeted in deadly attacks. Yet,
hijacking the tragedy, Iran’s foreign foes have sought to use the
protests as a geopolitical tool to embarrass the clerical regime.
This not only takes the focus away from the protesters’ genuine
demands for greater rights, it also exposes the West’s hypocrisy,
as the US and Europe prefer to keep quiet when their allies
indulge in similar authoritarian behaviour.
Iran’s rulers should examine the issues fuelling public discontent.

If it is confirmed that Mahsa Amini died due to police brutality,
those responsible must be punished, and such a tragedy should
not be repeated. As for the Western bloc, their sudden
benevolence for the Iranian people smacks more of politics than
of genuine compassion. For example, the US has now felt the
need to ease internet curbs for Iranians so that the country’s
people are “not kept isolated”. America would be better off lifting
its sanctions that prevent critical medicines from reaching
Iranian patients. Though humanitarian exports to the country
are allowed, America’s secondary sanctions “have drastically
constrained Iran’s ability to finance such humanitarian imports”,
according to Human Rights Watch. Moreover, while the West has
roasted Iran over its handling of the Mahsa Amini case, there
was little in the way of condemnation when Salma al-Shehab, a
female Saudi PhD scholar, was handed a 34-year jail sentence for
following the ‘wrong’ Twitter accounts last month. This selective
outrage needs to end.
Opinion
Dar’s return - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1711860/dars-return
September 24, 2022
WITH Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah confirming the return of

Ishaq Dar next week to ‘facilitate’ the PM in economic affairs, we
may soon have our third finance minister for this year and the
sixth since the current National Assembly took oath. Following
opportune developments on the legal front, there had already
been much speculation that the former finance minister, PML-N
stalwart and Nawaz Sharif confidant would soon be returning to
the country to snatch back the reins from Miftah Ismail. The
PML-N’s decision to change horses midstream appears to have
been driven by the incumbent’s unyielding pragmatism given the
state of the economy and his unwillingness to dish out populist
‘relief’ when the economy can ill afford it. Mr Dar will now be
expected by his party to conjure up fiscal space for the
government to start spending ahead of the next elections. What
financial wizardry he employs to do so remains to be seen, but if
the past is anything to go by, Mr Dar’s arrival could portend more
trouble. His disastrous exchange rate policy during his last
tenure is widely seen as a key reason why Pakistan had to return
for yet another bailout programme to the International Monetary
Fund. The future of that programme, which Mr Ismail
painstakingly renegotiated recently, will be closely watched if Mr
Dar takes over and goes for any expansionary policies. It would
appear from Mr Dar’s recent statements that the interests of the
two would be at odds with each other.
Meanwhile, the finance minister again faces the prospect of

returning unappreciated from a gruelling assignment that
required him to clean up someone else’s mess. It will not make it
any easier for him knowing it will be Mr Dar who gets to enjoy
any fruits that his labours may have yielded. Mr Dar had overtly
challenged Mr Ismail and undermined his decision-making over
the past months. Mr Ismail’s looming ouster also hints that the
Nawaz camp — which had made no secret of its disdain for Mr
Ismail’s economic policies — appears to have prevailed within
the PML-N. All of this does not bode well for the economy, which
has suffered much from the uncertainty brought about by the
party’s infighting. The country would have done well with a
stable hand at the helm. Now, with a new finance minister likely
to take over, instability is bound to return as the markets
speculate on the direction he will take in the weeks and months
ahead.
Opinion
UNGA speech - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1711861/unga-speech
September 24, 2022
CRISES test a nation’s resilience but also provide opportunities to

rise and move forward. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday
delivered an impassioned speech at the United Nations about the
climate injustice countries like Pakistan are facing. Much of what
he said was an adequate articulation of the many challenges
being faced by us today due to the vicissitudes of weather deeply
and perhaps irrevocably altered by global warming. He spoke of
the searing, unprecedented heatwaves this year and the flood of
“biblical proportions” which followed — a disaster the likes of
which we have never seen. “Why are my people paying the price
of such high global warming through no fault of their own?” he
asked the world.
It is important for the prime minister to seek reparations for

those already suffering from the impact of climate change. Yet
things also need to change back home. “Life in Pakistan has
changed forever,” Mr Sharif told other leaders at the UN General
Assembly — but has it really, or will it? The people of this country
are no strangers to suffering brought about by the vagaries of
nature and compounded by the short-sightedness and
ineptitudes of the people responsible for preventing or at least
mitigating such tragedies. Natural disasters will inevitably return
to our lands — no amount of ‘climate justice’ can prevent them
from doing so — and it is imperative that we be prepared when
they do.
“When the cameras leave, and the story just shifts away to
conflicts like Ukraine, my question is, will we be left alone to
cope with a crisis we did not create?” the prime minister asked at
the UNGA. The short answer to that is yes; that is likely what will
happen. For years, the most powerful world leaders have
bickered about how best to address climate change. It is clear
that they will not be interested in doing more than the bare
minimum, although at this time they should be strongly urged to
go beyond short-term aid for relief and rehabilitation. It will,
ultimately, be up to our leaders to rebuild the country to be
stronger and more resilient to the kind of destruction seen this
year. Mr Sharif called Pakistan “ground zero” of climate change:
our policies will have to change at the highest level if we wish to
adapt to this new reality. Climate change is as much an
existential crisis now as the other conventional threats we spend
trillions on avoiding. It is important to hold nations responsible
for heavy pollution to account for the misery unleashed on our
country, but our leaders must also take responsibility for the
future. They cannot leave it dependent on the goodwill of
countries that got us here in the first place. The passion shown at
the UN should be seen in actions taken back at home.
Opinion
Parks & propagation
dawn.com/news/1711862/parks-propagation
September 24, 2022
WHEN I was six years old, my father would often take me and
my brother to Model Town Park in Lahore for a walk.
We’d lace up our little running shoes, take a brisk lap or two
around the track, and sit down on a grassy hill near the centre to
catch our breath. It was lush green as far as the eye could see
from that hill. Some peacocks roaming outside their enclosure.
Paddleboats drifting on an artificial lake in the distance.
Sometimes you could see the sunset reflecting on the water.
Every time, it was beautiful.
I’ve grown older since then, and Model Town Park has too. If you
go there today, you’ll probably see teens filming TikTok videos,
children and their grandparents having picnics, large groups
doing yoga, and women occupying public space in equal
numbers as men. Within it all, you’ll see a Pakistan that is
inclusive, tolerant, and taking some time out to enjoy the little
things.
In 2020, the pandemic turned my occasional visit to this park into

a daily morning routine. In 2021, the hopefulness it had grown to
personify over the years suffered a deep wound.
The legal system robbed him of a year’s worth of sunsets.
Early that year, I read in the news that two Christian men had
been arrested from Model Town Park after an argument. The
alleged crime carried the death penalty. It takes little imagination
to guess what it was. Details were fuzzy (as they tend to be in
cases like these), but arrests were made, and with time, they
were forgotten.
That is until this month, when the bail petition for one of the
accused reached the Supreme Court. In a landmark judgement
reported as ‘Salamat Mansha Masih vs the State’, a two-member
bench comprising Justices Qazi Faez Isa and Syed Mansoor Ali
Shah provided some clarity.
It unfolded therein that the incident had started with the

Christian men offering the complainants a book. The prosecution
alleges that they then “intentionally started preaching
Christianity”, implying that this is a crime. But, as the Supreme
Court judgement points out, Article 20 of the Constitution
safeguards every citizen’s fundamental right to “profess, practise
and propagate his religion”.
The judgement uses Islamic jurisprudence to dissect the veracity
of the allegations. It was found that the accused had been
charged under sections of the Pakistan Penal Code that he wasn’t
even alleged to have violated. Furthermore, he wasn’t a preacher
(as the prosecution had suggested), but a sweeper employed with
the Lahore Waste Management Company. And despite the
incident taking place in a busy, public area, the prosecution case
rested solely on the testimony of four friends, with no other
witnesses coming forward.
The judgement ultimately held that according to Islamic

jurisprudential principles and the constitutionally guaranteed
right to fair trial, when there is only the improbable oral
testimony of witnesses in an offence relating to religion, there
must be corroboration. No incriminating material was recovered
from the accused. There was no corroboration. Thus, he was
admitted to bail.
In many ways, this judgement unravelled the extent to which

Pakistan’s legal system is rigged against its most vulnerable
citizens. I don’t like using the word ‘minority’ — it emphasises a
community’s existence as the ‘other’, defined by its exclusion
from the majoritarian norm. The Constitution never uses the
word in a solely religious context either, because those of other
faiths are equal citizens of Pakistan. That the Salamat Masih
judgement recognises this is its greatest strength: it makes no
novel innovations, choosing simply to extend protections of
Islam and the Constitution, with the understanding that crimes
which invoke harsh punishments and enflame public passions
require more meticulosity from the justice system, not less.
Once you finish reading the judgement (it’s available in English
and Urdu on the Supreme Court website), a realisation sets in: a
Christian sweeper walked up to a stranger in a park and offered
them a book. For this simple act and an unsubstantiated
allegation, he spent over a year of his life in jail, awaiting a
seemingly inevitable death penalty.
To attempt to justify such cruelty — to not speak out against it —

isn’t just heartless. It is to be ignorant of Islam. The judgement
quoted a range of hadith and Islamic scholarship to back its
decision. But even if you don’t have the time to delve into
research, one thing should be clear to all of us.
This man deserved better. In his childhood, his father might have
brought him to Model Town Park too. In his mind, it might have
represented tolerance and safety. He cleaned his country every
day, and in return, its legal system robbed him of a year’s worth
of sunsets.
A Supreme Court judgement has secured him his freedom for

now. May it also reassure Pakistani citizens of all faiths that
Model Town Park is theirs to enjoy just as much as it is anyone
else’s. So is the rest of this country.
The writer is a lawyer and columnist from Okara, based in

Islamabad.
Twitter: @hkwattoo1

Whither midwives? - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1711863/whither-midwives
September 24, 2022
THE young woman had miscarried and was being brought in a

boat from a village in Mehar, bleeding profusely and in a lot of
pain. One of the rescuers called up Neha Mankani of the Mama
Baby Fund, seeking help as the latter has been providing
antenatal care and safe delivery services at makeshift clinics at
various flood relief camps in Sindh and Balochistan.
Already in a crumbling state, Basic Health Units have either been

swept away or severely damaged in the floods. The Directorate
General Health Services Sindh has reported that 1,000 health
facilities are either fully or partially damaged in the province.
With that, people have lost precious contact with healthcare
providers attached to those facilities.
The sheer number of pregnant women is overwhelming. Based
on her regular camp visits, Mankani finds the United Nations
Population Fund’s estimate of nearly 650,000 pregnant women in
the flood-affected areas of which 73,000 women are delivering
this month a gross underestimation, saying “the number is much
bigger”.
She fears many mothers may die. Even before the floods,
Pakistan had one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in
South Asia at 186 per 100,000 live births and 224 and 298 per
100,000 in Sindh and Balochistan, the hardest-hit provinces.
The sheer number of pregnant women is overwhelming.
Those who have had C-sections previously or develop

complications and need hospitalisation may not know where to
seek specialised help. Mankani sees an increase in infections
among mothers and newborns. Malnutrition has increased at a
time when lactating mothers need an optimal diet.
Not expecting a brigade of trained birth attendants to appear

anytime soon, Mankani’s organisation is busy making and
distributing safe delivery kits to avert maternal deaths from
infection. So far, the fund has distributed some 3,000 kits, which
include clothes for the newborn and nutrient-laden food for the
mother.
Because bleeding (obstetric haemorrhage) is responsible for 41

per cent of all maternal deaths in Pakistan, the Karachi-based
non-profit Association for Mothers and Newborns, in
collaboration with the National Committee for Maternal and
Neonatal Health and New Beginnings, has added Misoprostol
tablets to the delivery kits. These tablets can prevent bleeding
after childbirth, “the commonest cause of maternal death”,
according to AMAN president Dr Azra Ahsan. Additionally, there
are pictorial leaflets to guide birth attendants on preventing
bleeding or providing obstetric first aid if it occurs. The kits thus
prepared are handed to expectant mothers who, at the time of
delivery, give them to the birth attendant (skilled or unskilled).
In the 2010 floods, AMAN had trained flood-affected dais

(traditional birth attendants) in the camps on the use of these kits
and in newborn care — breastfeeding within one hour of birth,
delaying the baby’s bath for 24 hours, prevention of umbilical
cord infection and resuscitation of a newborn.
After the first batch of over 400 kits, AMAN is busy preparing
another 2,500 for various national and international
organisations working in the flood-affected communities. The
present kits will be prepared based on community feedback on
who did not want undergarments and sanitary pads. “Instead,
we are adding square face towels that can be rolled up to be used
during one’s period and that can be washed,” said Dr Ahsan,
adding that pads would only add to the waste and may even be
thrown into the nearby standing water.
Dr Shahida Zaidi, who opened the first ultrasound clinic in

Karachi in 1979, took her portable battery-operated ultrasound
machine to one of the camps and found it helpful as she was able
to calculate how far the pregnancies had progressed. “Many did
not remember the date of the last period or had patchy
recollection; a few said they were pregnant but were not,” she
said. She was also able to confirm whether the foetus was
growing normally.
With so many births due, Dr Zaidi emphasised the need for
special camps to be set up for pregnant women where antenatal
checks could be conducted and high-risk conditions identified so
that they could be referred to designated hospitals for timely
treatment and safe childbirth.
But given the huge volume of such women, these camps also
need to have skilled birth attendants. An “organised network of
community-based midwives” to tap into would be most useful at
this time, said Mankani, which can support her in managing
clinics, doing deliveries and recognising complications. Coming
from the same community as the expectant mother can put the
latter at ease, she said.
Unfortunately, this particular force remains missing in action.
If there is one thing that these floods have glaringly brought into
focus, it is the dire need for a huge number of community-based
skilled midwives — whether or not there is a climate-induced
emergency. It shouldn’t just be a target on paper.
The writer is a Karachi-based independent journalist.

zofeen28@hotmail.com
Twitter: @Zofeen28

PTI’s moment of truth?
dawn.com/news/1711864/ptis-moment-of-truth
September 24, 2022
PTI LEADER Imran Khan, it seems, has now very few cards up his
sleeve and will face his moment of truth once he announces his
long march date, as the response to that call will determine
whether or not he can force the government into agreeing to an
early election.
With time running out, all eyes remain fixed on the hourglass to
see if Mr Khan’s desire for an early election is realised within a
certain time frame so that he can get to decide who will be the
next army chief replacing Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, who is
retiring at the end of November this year.
Despite demonstrating public support for his populist stance at
his large rallies and in PTI’s Punjab by-election wins, Khan has
openly expressed that his longevity in office — upon his return to
power — hinges on the person who will be the next army chief.
His party’s constant narrative — whether based on facts, or to

use former president Donald Trump’s top aide Kellyanne
Conway’s euphemism ‘alternative facts’ — particularly on social
media, is yet to be rivalled by any other political party or even
challenged by the media.
Imran Khan’s impatience seems to have done his cause no good.
Ms Conway was questioned many times by journalists, one of

whom shot back with “Alternative facts are not facts. They are
falsehoods”. ‘Post-truth’ and ‘post-fact’ were words that referred
to the environment that Trump thrived in — a world where
‘facts’, deemed irrelevant, were consigned to the past.
The term ‘post-truth society’ evolved when emotional appeals to

swing public opinion were used and facts became irrelevant.
Today’s ‘media managers’ and ‘spin doctors’ have added booster
rockets to their messages by using social media.
Take our own example, where 65 per cent of the population is

under 30 years and millions, a majority in fact, use smartphones,
and a high proportion social media as well. Kudos to the PTI for
tapping into this enormous new market.
With millions of captive supporters who have bought into the

party’s narrative on social media, and with the bulk of YouTube
and TikTok stars and their huge number of followers also in his
camp, why should Khan attach so much importance to the
selection of the next army chief?
The answer may lie in his evolution as a politician who struggled
for a fairly long time, without his message resonating with the
public even when he espoused popular causes. His rise to power
can be traced to the backing he started to receive from what is
euphemistically called the establishment. His government’s fall
can be traced to his falling out with the same institution.
Accolades for his performance in office were not a patch on those

he won as cricket ‘kaptaan’ and then as a fundraiser and cancer
hospital builder. After his government left the economy teetering
on the brink of collapse and was ousted through a vote of no-
confidence in the National Assembly, the coalition that replaced
his administration decided to save the country from default, and
had to take several decisions that pushed up inflation and caused
immense hardship to most Pakistanis.
Needless to say, these tough decisions had a huge impact on the

popularity of the PML-N (the major partner in the coalition).
Smelling blood, the PTI started its mobilisation campaign and
began circling around the coalition. Sensing the public anger,
Khan went on the offensive and challenged both the army and
judiciary to either side with him or face his wrath.
While initially the security apparatus appeared to be influenced

and we heard of ideas like the ‘Pindi Plan’ to defuse the situation
and perhaps move towards new elections, the digging in of heels
by the ruling coalition and Imran Khan’s impatience seemed to
have done his cause no good.
On more than one occasion in the past, he has reacted furiously

to hearsay that suggest things may not be going his way. Perhaps,
he watched a vlog by a supporter who left the army several
decades ago and lives abroad now.
This gentleman cooked up a story about PPP leader Asif Zardari
using his influence in the coalition to push for a particular
person as the next chief upon the incumbent’s retirement.
Who knows if this was what the PTI leader watched and went
into panic mode because he knew what would happen if the
chief was not in his corner, and worse, if he perceived him to be
in another camp.
Only such a perception on Mr Khan’s part would account for this

outburst focusing on who should or should not appoint the army
chief. When his rather outrageous concern went unaddressed he
went on a fiercer offensive, using words and airing thoughts that
seem to have proved counterproductive. Perhaps he went too far.
The devastating floods which displaced millions and continue to

be the cause of homelessness and water-borne diseases, besides
claiming over 1,500 lives and destroying standing crops worth
billions, could well have a flip side.
Pakistan’s effective campaign to bring the world’s attention to the

climate catastrophe and make the point that the country is
suffering for someone else’s sins, seems to have had some effect.
The IMF has hinted at extra funds and a relaxation of its
conditionality regime; the World Bank has pledged funds to
contribute to a sustainable rehabilitation effort, as has the
European Commission.
This may mean that despite having the daunting challenge of

rebuilding lives and infrastructure on such a massive scale, the
financial managers of the country may find some breathing room
to be able to give relief to the people. If this were to happen, the
PML-N may well regain its lost support. Ergo, the PTI’s long
march looks like a do-or-die situation for the party and its leader.
The writer is a former editor of Dawn.
abbas.nasir@hotmail.com

A climate blueprint
dawn.com/news/1711865/a-climate-blueprint
September 24, 2022
“YESTERDAY, I was clever, so I wanted to change the world.

Today I am wise, so I am changing myself” is a quote attributed
to Rumi.
So, what could Pakistan’s goals on climate be, given that we

cannot really affect the world, but we can change ourselves? My
suggestion would be to have three goals: (i) strengthen citizens’
ability to be more resilient to climate impacts (especially the
poor), (ii) put in place climate-integrated approaches to energy,
agriculture, water and in cities, optimising local co-benefits, (iii)
encourage continuous development of climate solutions amongst
all stakeholders, including youth, private sector, and the
provinces. The first and third are clear enough. What do I mean
by the second?
People often distinguish between being affected by climate
impacts (and the need to build resilience) and reducing emission
of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that cause climate
change. A climate-integrated approach addresses both together.
Why is this a good thing, given that Pakistan only produces less
than one per cent of the greenhouse gases emitted? Well, quite
simply, projects that reduce emissions help to position Pakistan
for future global markets, are eligible for climate finance, and
also yield local co-benefits. For example, air quality
improvements will reduce public health impacts (such as strokes,
heart disease, cancers and respiratory illnesses, among others)
and reduce greenhouse gases. Having a good solid waste
management system will help the country shift to better public
services, at the same time as reducing methane (greenhouse gas)
emissions into the air. We already know that planting trees will
reduce greenhouse gases, but they can also protect upstream
watersheds, helping to reduce impact of floods, if planted with
both mitigation and resiliency in mind. Ultimately, as a country,
we have the most to gain in both the short term and the long
term, if we take a climate-integrated approach.
Getting to a climate-integrated approach in a sector is not a

simple task. It is just not enough to say that we will increase wind
and solar energy capacity in the power system, even though that
is a valid and important step. A much more structured approach
is needed to develop a climate-integrated plan. Two countries,
that I helped, took different approaches. Romania conducted
extensive economic analyses over a two-year period in 2014-2016
to develop its climate strategy and action plan. Mexico effectively
utilised the analyses already available, working with a
knowledgeable team, and began putting in place policy measures
as early as 2002 to begin to integrate sustainability into their
energy, tourism, water and forestry sectors.
A broad and inclusive ‘Climate NCOC’ is an important start to ensure there is
broader ownership.
How could we go about developing a national plan to meet these

climate goals that is owned by every citizen? A broad and
inclusive Climate NCOC is an important start to ensure that there
is broader ownership. We also have pieces on which we can
build further to ensure the plan incorporates many perspectives
and brings along all stakeholders.
First and foremost is the desire to do something after this horrific

flood, the impact of which is still unfolding. According to FAO, the
2010 flood resulted in over 70pc of farmers losing more than half
of their expected income and agricultural sector growth
dropping from 3.5pc to 0.2pc between 2009 and 2010. Second, we
have existing water and energy crises in the country, which could
potentially benefit from a different approach. We also have
programmes in place, such as the Ehsaas programme that can
help deliver swift financial relief to the most needy, as it did in
Covid-19 times. In addition, institutional frameworks that could
help the financial sector and large industries to shift to a
different approach quickly include the State Bank of Pakistan’s
Green Banking Guidelines and the Pakistan Business Council’s
Centre for Excellence in Responsible Business’s focus on
business-level Sustainable Development Goals implementation.
These are already in place due to external drivers, such as the
SDGs, as well as financial investors who are focused on climate
risk reduction and environmental, social and governance
indicators.
Finally, we also have existing national capacity, with authorities
such as the national and provincial disaster management
authorities, as well as the environmental sciences and
engineering degrees offered by 15 higher education institutions
in Pakistan.
There are also many questions that arise from the current
flooding disaster. Answers to these questions, coupled with
learning from other countries’ experiences, could help determine
an appropriate action plan to minimise impacts of future
disasters. Did people not move out of affected areas quickly
because of the lack of an early warning system or because they
did not have national ID cards and/or no land titles, and in effect
were leaving everything behind when they moved away? What
systems could be put in place to mobilise support faster and to
coordinate aid? How can we work with the increased water from
glacier melt to store it for drier times in the rest of the year?
It is also important to think about the role of federal and

provincial governments in moving the country towards these
climate goals. In what areas should government play a role to
share knowledge, create the correct incentives for others in the
country to act and facilitate access to finance? And in what areas
should they fund and implement projects themselves? Given
Pakistan’s macroeconomic situation and levels of debt, careful
selection of what the government should actually do, is crucial.
A broad-based Climate NCOC, with technical expertise included,

could begin to formulate a climate plan for Pakistan — a plan
which learns from Pakistan’s experiences and those of other
countries, taking into consideration both the long-term and
short-term implications. If done in an inclusive manner,
developing a climate plan in itself will help to build knowledge
and empower citizens to ensure that they can change their own
quality of life for the better, in addition to positioning the
country in future markets and minimising the impact of future
disasters.
The writer is the director of Integrated Learning Means and a

former World Bank sector manage

Star-struck cops - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1711679/star-struck-cops
September 23, 2022
IN this age of selfies and social media, it is easy to get carried

away in the presence of famous people, even if you are a
government servant assigned to protect those well-known
personalities. This was apparently the case with officers of the
Sindh Police’s Special Branch and Special Security Unit, which
were supposed to provide security to UN Secretary General
António Guterres during his recent visit to Karachi as part of his
solidarity mission to the flood-affected population. Apparently,
the SSU personnel thought it would be a good opportunity to grab
a few snaps with the visiting dignitary and gain some publicity.
What resulted was an embarrassing breach of protocol; the star-
struck cops unnecessarily entered the state lounge; they gate-
crashed while the UN head was giving an interview to the BBC,
even though his personal guards tried to stop them, and even
barged into the dignitary’s suite to present him a ‘gift’, and grab
some more pictures.
Awkward and unedifying as the police officials’ behaviour is,

there appear to be precedents quite high up the pecking order.
For example, while meeting then Alaska governor Sarah Palin
during his US visit in 2008, Asif Zardari exhibited some very un-
presidential, cringe-worthy public behaviour while chatting up
the hawkish Republican politician. Moreover, if a biography of
former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice is to be believed,
then prime minister Shaukat Aziz also illustrated some
undiplomatic traits when he tried to impress the American
visitor during a 2005 visit to Islamabad. Much to the
embarrassment of many, Ms Rice was reportedly unimpressed
with Mr Aziz’s charms. The point is that whether it is presidents
and prime ministers, or those manning other important public
service roles, SOPs and protocols should not be lost sight of,
especially when interacting with foreign guests. The way the SSU
personnel behaved with the UN chief was unbecoming, and the
Sindh government, as well as other administrative bodies, must
ensure such shenanigans are not repeated.
Opinion
Panadol shortage - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1711680/panadol-shortage
September 23, 2022
FROM headaches to fever to bodily pain — paracetamol is used

ubiquitously in Pakistan as the go-to remedy for most common
ailments. In recent months, the drug’s most familiar brand,
‘Panadol’, has been in short supply in the country. The company
that manufactures Panadol had recently halted production,
saying that it is no longer viable to keep producing the drug due
to higher input prices. Though the drug itself, paracetamol, is still
available and is being sold under other names, such is the power
of the brand that the disappearance of Panadol from pharmacy
shelves has been taken by many to mean that there is a shortage
of medicine to treat fever and common pains. Other companies
manufacturing paracetamol had also raised issues relating to
pricing.
The authorities know they have a problem on their hands, but

they seem to be struggling with how to fix it. Drug pricing, which
is controlled through the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan,
has become a political issue over the years as various parties
have lobbied to block any price increases in a bid to win favour
with the public. What makes matters more complicated is that
Pakistan does not produce many active ingredients required to
manufacture drugs, even some of the most commonly used ones,
which means the industry remains highly dependent on the
import of raw materials to continue production. These imports
have in recent months been vulnerable to global supply
shortages and disruptions, as well as currency rate depreciation.
The combined effect of these factors has put drug manufacturers
under pressure, as they are having difficulty meeting costs while
the government does not allow them to raise prices. The prime
minister has now announced that the government will subsidise
paracetamol production to keep it ‘affordable’ for the masses.
This is unlikely to work as a long-term fix for a cash-starved
economy. At some point, the government will have to realise that
the availability of drugs is sometimes more important than
affordability. With dengue ripping through the country and the
cold and flu season right around the corner, demand for
paracetamol is expected to remain strong or even pick up in the
weeks to come. The government may, by all means, take action to
prevent hoarding of medicines and illicit profiteering by black
marketeers. However, it needs to get the economics of the drugs
market right if it wants to prevent similar crises in the future.
Opinion
Post-flood economy
dawn.com/news/1711681/post-flood-economy
September 23, 2022
WITH a third of the country — especially Sindh and Balochistan

— under water, over 33m people displaced, and homes, roads,
rail tracks, bridges, crops, livestock and livelihoods washed away,
it is improbable that the economic targets set by the government
for the present fiscal will be met. No wonder, the government has
slashed its budgeted economic growth target of 5pc to just 2pc;
the climate calamity has hit the country at a time when the
economy was already in a tailspin as the government struggled
with one of Pakistan’s worst balance-of-payments crises, piling
debt and soaring inflation. Many believe that even the revised
growth projections are too optimistic in light of the devastation
wrought by a deluge of epic proportions that will leave the
country with little or no growth at all this year. Hyperinflation, a
weakening rupee, and fiscal and monetary tightening under the
IMF package had already been affecting economic growth when
the torrential monsoon rains and melting glaciers drowned large
parts of the country. It, therefore, isn’t surprising to see the
catastrophic floods curtail whatever modest growth we were
expecting to achieve and push the nation to the brink. Finance
Minister Miftah Ismail has rightly pointed out that “the path to
solvency was narrow; it has gotten narrower”.
Early flood-related economic losses are estimated to be almost

$30bn; the calls for debt relief for Pakistan are growing louder as
Islamabad desperately looks towards the developed world to
help it in a big way — and quickly. With a large number of
affected people still awaiting rescue services and relief, and the
rehabilitation and recovery phase yet to begin, UN Secretary
General António Guterres has sought to draw global attention to
the crisis in Pakistan, pointing out that the country was
“drowning not only in floodwater, but also in debt”. A UN policy
memo suggested that Islamabad should suspend international
debt repayments and restructure loans with creditors after the
recent floods exacerbated the financial crisis. It states that the
country’s creditors should consider debt relief so that
policymakers can prioritise financing its disaster response over
loan repayment.
So far, the report has only spiked fears of a default as Pakistan’s

sovereign bonds slumped to just half their face value, despite Mr
Ismail’s statement a few days earlier that the country would
“absolutely not default on its debt payments in spite of the
floods”. The only silver lining is the indication from the IMF that
it is willing to ease the conditions under the bailout programme
in a changed post-floods economic situation and increase the
amount Pakistan would receive in the next tranche, subject to a
“lot of negotiations” in the coming weeks. Chances are Pakistan
will secure some additional multilateral financing. But that isn’t
the solution to the current crisis. It’s time the world stepped
forward to provide debt relief to prevent the economy from
collapsing.

Opinion
Mental health services
dawn.com/news/1711684/mental-health-services
September 23, 2022
LAST December, the National Commission for Human Rights

(NCHR) received a complaint that 35-year-old Rukhsana (not her
real name), who was working for an MNC, was being illegally
detained at an inpatient psychiatric institution in Islamabad.
Investigations revealed that the institution was not registered
with the relevant authorities and didn’t employ qualified mental
health professionals. It was later established that Rukhsana had
been ‘admitted’ upon the instructions of her mother who wanted
her to agree to an arranged marriage.
This case is a glaring example of how lack of regulation of mental

health services is damaging Pakistanis’ human rights. While
psychiatrists are required to register with the Pakistan Medical
Council, no government institution licenses clinical psychologists
and mental health counsellors. Even with valid credentials, there
must be oversight and processes to ensure professionals are
operating ethically. In developed countries, this is the role of
regulatory bodies. Although each province has created its own
regulatory bodies post 18th Amendment, they remain only
partially active. Inappropriate healthcare services may further
harm the patient or compromise their rights.
Last month, the NCHR and Taskeen Health Initiative launched a

report that revealed the experiences of users of mental health
services. Zaibunnisa (not her real name) stated: “I have
witnessed staff at a mental health clinic physically punishing
patients of drug abuse, and the organisation head using the worst
kind of language towards patients.” This ‘incarceration’ type
mental healthcare is just one example of the ways in which the
current system fails those seeking mental health support.
Unlike most countries, Pakistan has no set verification

requirements for therapists and psychologists to practise. This
implies that they are not legally required to have a minimum
level of education or a licence to be able to provide clinical
services. Anyone can pose as a psychologist or counsellor to dupe
clients and cause further harm. Raheela (not her real name)
stated: “Banners outside read ‘child psychologist’, somewhere
else on the internet he claims to be a psychiatrist and during the
session it was revealed he was a palmist.”
Lack of regulation can further harm a patient.
In addition, provincial mental health regulatory bodies remain

either dysfunctional or dormant, preventing checks and balances
on mental health services. This results in rampant abuse,
especially in in-patient settings and rehabilitation centres. These
provincial legislations and regulatory bodies are based on the
2001 Mental Health Ordinance. Additionally, the legislation that
these regulatory bodies are based on is the 2001 Mental Health
Ordinance, which is over 21 years old and has not been updated
in its language, intent, or methodologies, creating an outdated
framework for managing mental illness.
Legal loopholes make malpractice and abuse of patients of

mental illness inevitable. It includes overprescription by
psychiatrists who are financially incentivised by pharmaceutical
companies. One woman reported: “She over-drugged me
consistently without ever informing me of the side effects of any
of the medicines I had been prescribed. When I would get these
side effects, I would tell her, and she wouldn’t know and then
would say no one else has this problem.” This may also result in
jail-like conditions in rehabilitation centres and in-patient
facilities where patients are hospitalised indefinitely.
Another person stated: “He asked me to come in weekly, and in

those sessions would touch me without consent, as well as vape
in his office.”These egregious examples illustrate how vulnerable
members of society are exploited and their mental health issues
further exacerbated by such experiences.
It may be argued that with the existing stigma against seeking

help for mental health problems, raising awareness about
malpractice may further dissuade patients from getting the
necessary support. However, not highlighting these issues will
mean that unethical practices will continue to occur and patient
rights will continue to be violated, which will automatically
decrease trust in mental health services. Therefore, addressing
this issue is the need of the hour.
While there are some mental health professionals and
organisations involved in malpractice, there are several who
offer good quality mental health support. If you or your loved
ones need mental health support, it is important to conduct some
background research on providers, confirm their qualifications,
and ask for references from people you may know. In addition,
there is an urgent need for lawmakers to pass relevant legislation
to ensure that all mental health professionals are licensed and
that regulatory bodies are activated to perform their due role in
safeguarding the rights of individuals with mental illness.
Dr Mekaiel Zia is a health policy and management professional. Dr

Taha Sabri is a public health practitioner focusing on mental
health and COO, Taskeen.

New world order - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1711686/new-world-order
September 23, 2022
THE Samarkand summit of the Shanghai Cooperation

Organisation (SCO), which met recently, provided an excellent
opportunity for what is referred to in journalistic jargon as a
‘bilateral’ summit or ‘on the sidelines’ of a summit. It is a great
pity that the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi deliberately
avoided a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Mr Sharif is an administrator of proven ability, a good statesman
and a confirmed champion of Pakistan-India friendship.
This writer can state on the basis of personal knowledge that the
former president of Pakistan, Gen Pervez Musharraf, held
Shehbaz Sharif in considerable esteem, his estrangement with
the prime minister’s elder brother Nawaz Sharif
notwithstanding.
What cause is served by such international sulks? What national
interest is advanced thereby? The US paid a heavy price for its
secretary of state’s (the notorious John Foster Dulles) refusal to
shake hands with the prime minister of China Zhou Enlai at the
Geneva Conference on Vietnam in 1954. It took a lot of backdoor
diplomacy for Henry Kissinger to visit Beijing in 1971 in secret
via Pakistan and that through the good offices of the president of
Pakistan at the time, Yahya Khan. All others, including Romania,
had failed to arrange the summit.
At Samarkand, Chinese President Xi Jinping had a substantial

meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Ukraine war
notwithstanding, the West helps the hapless suffering people of
Ukraine in no way by calling Mr Putin a war criminal. The
Chinese leader’s meeting at Samarkand, in the present time of a
grave crisis, with Mr Putin was a very sensible move. According
to media reports, no doubt propelled by a common aversion
towards the US, President Xi referred to President Putin as an
“old friend”, while the latter leader expressed his gratitude for
China’s “balanced” position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Certain stars are dimming as others rise.
The SCO summit registered a landmark on the evolution of a new

world order which witnesses the dwindling of American
hegemony. The US clearly resents the revival of Russia under
President Putin and the rise of China as a true Great Power.
President Xi enjoys universal respect at a time when the US faces
a decline. It remains a Great Power militarily and economically.
But it visibly lacks the power it once enjoyed as other centres of
influence arise to dilute its hegemony.
In this context, the Samarkand summit has been put forward as
an alternative to a ‘Western-centric organisation’, at a time of
increasing pressure on Moscow over Ukraine and growing anger
in Beijing over Washington’s support for Taiwan, which was
underlined earlier by US President Joe Biden’s offer of help to
Taiwan in the case of an attack by China.
As reported in the media covering the summit, President Xi told

the leaders who had gathered that “it was time to reshape the
international system and ‘abandon zero-sum games and bloc
politics”. Xi said that leaders should “work together to promote
the development of the international order in a more just and
rational direction”.
Putin, on his part, welcomed the increasing influence of non-

Western countries outside the West, and criticised what he
referred to as the “instruments of protectionism, illegal sanctions
and economic selfishness”. He asserted: “The growing role of
new centres of power who cooperate with each other … is
becoming more and more clear.”
Meanwhile, the US State Department spokesman Ned Price said

that China and Russia “share a vision for the world that is starkly
at odds with the vision that’s at the centre of the international
system, the vision that has been at the centre of the international
system for the past eight decades”.
There can be no mistaking the radical change in the world order.

China has emerged as a global player. Its presence is increasingly
felt as it launches mega international projects. Russia is still a
Great Power but a hugely diminished one. Gone is the empire in
Eastern Europe; gone is the control over communist parties
abroad — no funds for them; gone is also the very strict
dictatorship of old.
America’s influence has waned. The Arab world is more

assertive. So are South Asia and Southeast Asia. This is not the
end. Assertion is now the norm in today’s world. Submissiveness
is on the decline. The reaction is for governments to question or
stand up to other states attempting to force their authority on
them.
All in all, what is noteworthy is that the old global order is

changing, though it is not easy to predict with any certainty or
precision the shape the new order will acquire. The vague
contours may be there, but with different stars in ascendance,
and others dimming, it will be a while before a definite outline
begins to emerge on the horizon.
The writer is an author and lawyer based in Mumbai.

What women need - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1711688/what-women-need
September 23, 2022
AS Pakistan reels from the apocalyptic damage caused by this

year’s monsoons, people are mobilising to help the millions of
men, women and children who have been displaced by the
floods. Women and girls make up half of these people, but amid
the scramble to ensure shelter, food, and medicines for them,
their specific needs related to their biological reality are often
overlooked.
Not this time, however, thanks to a group of young women —

students, mostly — who have started a movement to collect
sanitary products for these women and girls, some of whom will
face their first period in these months. These groups are raising
awareness about period poverty, in a country where not only are
women marginalised in the best of circumstances, but where
talking about menstruation openly has long been taboo.
It is a fact that half the world menstruates. The other half doesn’t
have to think about this fact. While one half of the world must
buy products to deal with this — think soap, sanitary pads,
special undergarments, painkillers — and have access to clean
water and toilets in order to maintain their health during this
time, the other half of the world is free of these necessities. While
one half of the world deals with pain, low blood pressure,
anaemia, and all the effects this may have on their attendance at
school or work, the other half is free of this burden.
Male privilege allows our society to be squeamish about the

biological realities of women. Puberty, menstruation, fertility,
conception, pregnancy and childbirth are seen as women’s
issues, not to be discussed publicly or with men or boys present.
Not long ago, advertising for sanitary products on television was
controversial. Women and girls in Pakistan continue to live with
human-created shame over a biological function that is vital to
the continuation of life.
Women and girls in Pakistan live with human-created shame over a biological
function that is vital to the continuation of life.
Older generations accepted these conventions as normal and

necessary. The younger generation is not so accepting. Mahwari
Justice, the brainchild of two college students in Lahore, Bushra
Mahnoor and Anum Khalid, sends menstrual products out to
women and girls affected by the floods. Private donations enable
them to purchase and pack menstrual kits for the flood affectees.
They regularly put out calls on social media for volunteers in
different towns and cities, and Mahnoor has been doing media
interviews with international news outlets, even though she
wrote on Twitter that her family considers her advocacy
“shameful”.
But Mahnoor and Khalid carry on, haunted by the woman who
called and said she’d been using leaves during her period. Other
displaced women end up staining the only set of clothing they
have been left with, having lost everything else in the flooding.
Even before the floods, rural women used cloths, newspapers or

rags to manage their periods. A luxury tax on sanitary napkins
means they’re too expensive for most girls or women outside the
cities of Pakistan. This period poverty, coupled with general
ignorance about menstruation has kept women and girls in the
dark ages, even in the 21st century.
When Mahwari Justice began their operations, a patronising

debate sprung up about whether period products were a luxury
or a necessity. “Why don’t you distribute shaving kits to men?”
wrote one disgruntled Twitter user, displaying a lack of
sensitivity that is typical of men who have never had to even
consider what having a period means. Others said that since
rural women did not use sanitary napkins under normal
circumstances, forcing them to use these products was a form of
imperialism enacted on them by the elite.
It’s true that women in rural areas of Pakistan are used to using
cloths that they wash and reuse, the most ecologically sound
manner of dealing with periods. But emergencies necessitate
having to use alternate methods for period hygiene. In the floods,
there is no clean water with which to wash the cloths. Adding
biological waste to the already filthy stagnant water will just
increase the spread of disease, the “second disaster” that the
WHO has warned will hit Pakistanis now that the flooding has
done its worst.
“We ask the women what they need and what they are
comfortable with,” says Mahnoor. Kits may contain sanitary
pads, underwear, cloth towels, cotton pads, and soap, depending
on what the women themselves request. There is a small diagram
to explain how to use these products. So far they have sent out
more than 20,000 of these kits, and plan to keep going for as long
as women need them. Other groups and organisations have
followed suit, distributing period packs and pregnancy packs for
women who are ready to give birth in the most dangerous
conditions imaginable.
In more established shelters, like the new tent city established by

Roshan Academy in Karachi to house IDPs for a longer period of
time, washing and reusing cloth pads will be possible with a
steady supply of clean water and toilets. Maria Taqdees of Hunar
Ghar in Karachi has taught low-income women to make cloth
pads on sewing machines and is making them available to relief
groups. Across Pakistan women are answering the call to help
other women, and not leave them behind in male-led relief
efforts.
Relief groups led by women are taking menstrual supplies to the

female IDPs and holding workshops explaining how they work
and how they can be disposed of safely. Using sanitary napkins
with belts is something that the rural women have been willing
to try. Sensitivity and respect are very important to help women
survive these times with dignity. But now may be the best time to
teach these women and girls about menstrual hygiene and about
how their bodies work, empowering them in unexpected ways.
Twitter: @binashah

PTI: water car of politics
dawn.com/news/1711690/pti-water-car-of-politics
September 23, 2022
IN 2012 a tsunami of self-delusion swept across Pakistan. A self-

styled engineer by the name of Agha Waqar Pathan claimed
creating a ‘water kit’ allowing cars to run solely on plain water.
Once mass produced, Pakistan’s problems would miraculously
disappear. Oil and petroleum imports would cease as would load-
shedding. The national treasury would overflow with dollars
once his fabulous invention was sold overseas. So far and wide
did this vision of a fool’s paradise spread that the New York
Times and others around the world wrote commentaries.
Political leaders, media anchors, and most Pakistani scientists —

including national super heroes like Dr A.Q. Khan and Dr Samar
Mubarakmand — rushed to endorse the water car. President
Zardari expressed delight and the federal cabinet met thrice to
discuss Pakistan’s post water-car economy. Some anxiously called
for protecting the new national treasure, Agha Waqar, from
being kidnapped by America’s malign secret forces. To Pakistan’s
miracle-seeking, America-hating millions this made perfect
sense.
In 2022 another kind of water car is also making perfect sense to

millions. Expertly piloted before cheering crowds by ex-PM
Imran Khan, a yet bigger miracle is being sold at rally after rally.
Khan says he will resuscitate a country gasping for breath.
Imperial America conspired with corrupt local politicos and
generals to remove him as PM and install an “imported”
government. Put me back into the saddle, says Khan, and all will
be well again.
Whereas Agha Waqar refused to reveal his water kit, Imran Khan
is making his plans fully public. Those of his speeches that I have
heard tell of his agenda upon regaining power:
Just as the water car violated thermodynamics, Khan’s agenda for Pakistan
violates commonsense.
Economy: Twisting the arms of crooked PDM politicians will

force them into repatriating looted billions and trillions; Pakistan
will teach IMF a lesson by refusing to accept any conditionality-
based loan; expat PTI voters will shore up the falling rupee by
sending home bales stuffed with dollars; Putin is so grateful to
Khan for being in Moscow just as the Ukrainian operation started
that he will supply Pakistan endless super cheap oil and gas; and
millions of Westerners will flock to Pakistan’s tourist havens for
spending their wealth there.
World politics: Protecting Islam from insult will be the central
plank of Pakistan’s foreign policy; France — and the French
ambassador to Pakistan — will tremble each time some crazy
Parisian goes on a blasphemy binge; bolstering Afghanistan’s
Taliban government will become paramount notwithstanding its
quiet approval of TTP’s terrorism; and Narendra Modi will
receive such stiff tongue lashing that India will quit Kashmir.
Indians will finally understand why Khan had Kashmir Highway
renamed Srinagar Highway.
Governance: There can be only one Great Leader and, as in

North Korea, allegiance to him is the highest virtue. Those
dissenting with Khan commit ‘shirk’, says Khan, a view
confounding even his closest supporters. All secondary public
figures — like former Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar —
perforce must be diminutive ones. The 18th Amendment to the
Constitution providing provinces a measure of fiscal autonomy
must be dumped.
Moral revival: Pakistan’s moral fabric is badly torn with girls

immodestly dressed and boys wearing knee-less jeans and
inverted baseball caps. Khan took the first step towards changing
this in October 2021 when he created an authority tasked with
guarding public morality by preventing vice and promoting
virtue in a manner that it shall determine.
Education: As is well-known, Khan is no science buff. Therefore,

Pakistani kids will not be stressed with excessive math and
science. The stuff is too difficult, not really needed, and must be
packaged in readily memorisable morsels digestible by
madressah students. Instead, a hefty dose of Khan’s SNC will
make every boy dream of becoming a horse-mounted Ertugrul
Ghazi with sword ready in hand. Research into Sufism at Al
Qadir University will, in Khan’s words, “groom our youth as
leaders”.
One cannot foretell how much of Khan’s pre-election agenda will

survive his U-turns but every populist knows this doesn’t matter.
As Donald Trump famously declared in 2016, “I could stand in
the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, okay, and I
wouldn’t lose any voters, okay?”
Experts of mass psychology say voters exhibit such pathological

behaviour because their biases, weaknesses, and pre-
conditioning are cleverly exploited by leaders. People are not
rational consumers of information. Instead, they seek swift,
reassuring answers and messages. As the redoubtable Julian
Huxley hypothesised, the human mind filters out much of reality
because handling detailed impressions and received images
would be unbearably difficult. Successful leaders massively
simplify a complex and confusing world.
Super-simplification explains the attraction towards water kits of

mentally lazy individuals. If for cars, simply add water and enjoy
the ride — you need not bother about learning thermodynamics.
If for White America, then every evil is traceable to a single
source — liberal conspirators and their agents. Hence Trump’s
magic formula: close the door to immigration, confront China,
and disembowel Washington’s big government mafia. And then,
bingo! America will rise to the skies.
PTI’s formula is equally simple with slightly altered ingredients:

countering Islamophobia should be Pakistan’s top priority; India
is out to destroy Pakistan; America is eternally conspiring against
Muslims; and corruption explains Pakistan’s failures. Restore
Khan to his throne and all will be well. This cost-free, readymade
solution requires minimal use of the cerebellum and no change
of national habits.
Unfortunately, those enchanted by Khan’s narrative miss what’s

crucial. Real prosperity comes from harnessing science and
technology and civilised behaviour demands respecting even
those one disagrees with. Chasing phantoms of the past doesn’t
bring progress. For positive change, clear thinking and hard
work is needed.
Imran Khan’s water kit is as unworkable as Agha Waqar’s. One

violates the laws of physics and the other defies commonsense.
All bubbles eventually burst and so will PTI’s. But when and how
this will happen, none can say. If we are lucky, Pakistan will
recover from the explosion to come. But if not, then terrible
times lie ahead.
The writer is an Islamabad-based physicist and author.

Nuclear geopolitics
dawn.com/news/1711536/nuclear-geopolitics
September 23, 2022
TWO key international issues — Iran’s stand-off with the West

over the former’s nuclear programme, and Russian President
Vladimir Putin’s apparent threat to use nukes against his Western
adversaries — have highlighted the use of the nuclear card in
geopolitics. Regarding Iran, the country’s President Ebrahim Raisi
told the UN General Assembly that Tehran was not seeking
nuclear weapons, in an obvious reference to the stalled, and
some would say doomed, negotiations to revive the nuclear deal
with the P5+1. Mr Raisi reiterated the call for American
guarantees that any new deal would not be scuttled, as the JCPOA
was during the Trump presidency. The second development —
which raises the spectre of a 21st century nuclear war — should
be cause for considerable concern throughout the global
community. While addressing his nation, Mr Putin ominously
warned that those who were trying to “blackmail” Russia with
“nuclear weapons should know that the wind can also turn in
their direction”. There was little nuance in the Russian leader’s
pronouncement, as American President Joe Biden termed the
threat “irresponsible”, while Nato called it “reckless”.
As for the new Iran deal, a wide gulf of mistrust prevents Tehran
and the Western states from reaching a compromise that would
protect the interests of all involved. The fervent Israeli lobbying
in Western capitals to sabotage a new deal has certainly not
helped matters. If Tehran has repeatedly said it does not want
nukes, the Western states should take it at its word and help
forge a new nuclear deal that protects the interests of all
signatories, while Iran should also be willing to make
compromises. Coming to Mr Putin’s threat, it is hoped he was
indulging in mere rhetoric, even though he insisted “this is not a
bluff”. A nuclear exchange between Russia and Nato would be an
unmitigated catastrophe and any such plans need to be
immediately abandoned. Instead of fanning the flames, both
sides need to back down and work towards a solution that
guarantees Ukrainian independence, while allowing Russia to
save face.
Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2022
Opinion
Miranda Warning - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1711537/miranda-warning
September 23, 2022
BEATINGS, rape, sleep deprivation, electric shocks, even

waterboarding — the Punjab Police is notorious for employing a
gamut of torture tactics while ‘interrogating’ suspects.
Individuals in custody — inevitably those without money or
influence — are barely considered human beings, let alone
citizens with constitutionally protected rights. As a result, many
are left broken in body and spirit after being detained by law
enforcement; some succumb to the brutality. In this sordid
environment, where violation of the right to due process is
routine, the police leadership has introduced a pilot project in
Faisalabad district modelled after the ‘Miranda Warning’ as
practised in the US since 1966. In that country, cops are bound to
communicate the Miranda Warning/ Rights to individuals when
taking them into custody. These inform the accused person that
they have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer self-
incriminating questions. The impetus behind adopting the
procedure in Faisalabad, according to a senior police official
quoted in this paper yesterday, is to address the practice of
custodial torture and deaths.
Faisalabad is certainly an appropriate place to launch such a

project. A study conducted by Yale University and the Justice
Project Pakistan on 1,867 medico-legal certificates dated between
2006 and 2012 from the district, confirmed 1,424 allegations of
police torture with physical evidence. Yet not a single case, by the
time the findings were made public in 2015, had been
investigated or the cops responsible prosecuted. This impunity
indicates a sociocultural acceptance of torture as a legitimate
means of investigating crime. While the move to introduce the
practice of Miranda Warning/ Rights constitutes at least an
acknowledgment of the rights of people in custody and is a shift
in the correct direction, it will likely prove insufficient to tip the
scales to any significant degree. Torture is endemic because it
stems from a particular mindset shaped by an authoritarian
subculture within law enforcement; also, the politics of policing
are premised on the institutional weakness of law-enforcement
agencies. Perhaps most crucially, torture is yet to be expressly
criminalised in Pakistan. There is no mention of it in the PPC or
the CrPC. While the Police Order 2002, under which the Punjab
Police functions, does stipulate penalties against police officers
who inflict “violence or torture” upon anyone in their custody,
there is no definition of torture, which is a critical omission.
Lawmakers must step up to make torture unacceptable, with
severe repercussions for those who resort to it.
Opinion
Timely remorse - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1711538/timely-remorse
September 23, 2022
THE remorse and humility on display at the Islamabad High

Court yesterday would have been unremarkable had it been any
other person on the stand. The august courts of this land have
usually given short shrift to hubris. Yet, Mr Imran Khan had
survived hearing after hearing, refusing to tender a straight
apology to Additional District and Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry,
against whom he had, during a public rally on Aug 20 in
Islamabad, used language considered contemptuous by many.
One had wondered why the IHC was seemingly lenient towards
Mr Khan when he was not interested in making any amends. It
was only when the IHC finally ran out of patience and made it
clear that it would prosecute him if need be that Mr Khan saw
the error of his ways. Even a symbolic punishment for contempt
— as once prescribed for former prime minister Yousuf Raza
Gilani — is enough to knock a politician out of the race for a five-
year period. Perhaps that is why the apology yesterday was
humble and unequivocal. Mr Khan even expressed a willingness
to seek Judge Chaudhry’s forgiveness in person if the court so
desired. Quite the change of heart in a man whose pride keeps
getting in his way.
Mr Khan should never have used the sort of language he did

against the judge, and it is hoped that he has learnt his lesson.
Hopefully, he will take the opportunity to reflect on his needless
disparagement of other state institutions as well as his political
opponents. If Pakistan had more rigid libel laws, the PTI
chairman would have been sued mercilessly for the litany of
unfounded allegations he keeps making against anyone who
dares cross him. Bullying opponents from the pulpit is easy when
your star is rising, and the might of the people is behind you.
However, this is a demagogue’s path to power, and the country
needs more leaders, not rabble-rousers.
As Mr Khan embarks on phase two of his mission to topple the

government — which kicks off this Saturday — now would be a
good time to reassess strategies. Spreading chaos shouldn’t be an
option in achieving political objectives. There is much for the
country to lose if political instability crosses the threshold and
results in a confrontation between the citizens and the state.
Whatever Mr Khan wants, he must demand civilly and while
remaining within the bounds of the law. He will be well within
his rights to do so. The government, too, would be well-advised
not to resort to high-handed tactics in its zeal to block Mr Khan’s
pursuit of his ambitions. The interior minister has recently taken
to threatening ‘fumigation’ of D-chowk, as if protesters are
nothing more than cockroaches. Let us hope that this is not how
he sees citizens in opposing political camps.
Opinion
Why do we go to the IMF?
dawn.com/news/1711543/why-do-we-go-to-the-imf
September 23, 2022
THE resumption of the IMF package, that was badly needed to

avert an external payments crisis, has reignited passions. As
most countrymen wrestle with the question of whether or not
the Fund is a tool of neocolonialism to keep countries like
Pakistan sedated and subservient, what is lost in the debate is
why we always wind up at its door. Let’s take a peek.
Energy is the relevant sector to get this conversation going as it

constitutes the largest portion of our import bill. Economic
growth and economic mobility depend on energy, whose demand
rises as economies expand (along with other factors like
population growth). A large portion of Pakistan’s entire energy
edifice is dependent on imported fuels, given our meagre
internal energy sources.
Aside from raw material, the machines and equipment
underpinning our power production are also imported — from
turbines at hydel power plants to equipment at LNG, coal and
furnace oil plants. So, not only are we importing raw materials,
we are also importing services to sustain them over the long
term. All these have to be paid for in dollars.
Here, let me address a misconception, that ‘indigenous’ sources

of power will take care of the matter. Think again. These can’t be
utilised without outside help. Decades after the construction of
the Mangla and Tarbela dams, we still need foreign experts to
solve critical issues related to them. Consider the Neelum-Jhelum
run-of-the-river hydel power project, which has extracted
gazillions from Pakistanis under the label of ‘surcharge’. Meant
to utilise an ‘indigenous’ source of energy, hardly a year later it is
down due to a ‘fault’ that required the services of foreign experts
because our own ‘experts’ could not identify it. (It meant
inflicting losses in the billions on consumers due to power
production from expensive, imported fuel).
We are importing not only raw materials, but also the services to sustain them
over the long term.
The case of other indigenous sources is somewhat similar: we

cannot build nuclear power plants without foreign help; we had
to hire foreign experts to determine whether our coal plants
could use Thar’s indigenous coal, etc.
This is not a revelation: there has been recognition for long that
Pakistan creates problems for itself that, in turn, generate a
demand for dollars, which we are usually short of. The Economic
Survey of 1980-81, for example, recognised that long-gestation
projects under the public investment garb was the main reason
for saddling Pakistan with an external debt of $9bn. Yet, PSDPs
refuse to budge! It’s still about grand projects like roads that
incentivise an increase in vehicular traffic, in turn creating more
demand for dollar imports, as the main components of the
products of our highly protected car manufacturers are
imported.
Let’s move to the role of public regulations. A few of endless

examples will suffice. We have this infinite fascination with
horizontal sprawls, complemented by ‘housing societies’ in the
public and private sector. Aside from cities becoming
administratively difficult to govern, a result of these endless
sprawls is the need for more vehicles, leading to greater demand
for energy products such as oil and diesel. There has, arguably,
never been an estimate of the increase in energy imports that
accrued to the country due to this endless expansion. But if ever
such an exercise is carried out, the results will make other
import-related issues — like IPPs — look puny.
These endless sprawls have resulted in millions of acres of fertile

agricultural land being gobbled up over time. Given that more
than 100 agricultural ‘research’ institutes are producing little or
nothing in terms of higher land and crop productivity,
complemented by a rapidly expanding population, there is little
choice but to import food staples to meet our food requirements
— so much for being an ‘agricultural country’.
Another good example: the illogical fascination with uniform

pricing. In terms of the ultimately imported energy products, it
leads to waste. Pakistan’s fast-depleting natural gas reserves are
an apt illustration of this phenomenon. First, it was Balochistan,
and now it is Sindh whose natural gas reserves are dwindling
fast. There has, historically speaking, always been an incentive to
consume it inefficiently because they have been under-priced,
primarily due to uniform prices that are way below the market
prices. Had the pricing been market-based from the start, there
might not have arisen the need for importing expensive LNG or
coal, which severely taxes our dollar earnings.
Moving away from big-ticket items, even the micro level does not
inspire much confidence. Consider the common office chair.
Some time back, they were in short supply, carrying a premium.
That’s because they are merely ‘assembled’ here from imported
parts. Most other products fare little better.
To summarise, Pakistan’s economic edifice is built in a manner

that, unless we import, our economic activity will come to a
standstill. And as GDP inches up, we end up importing more — to
the extent that our dollar earnings will never be enough to pay
for our imports. So whether it’s the IMF or anyone else, Pakistan
will sooner or later knock at their door for dollars.
How to change all this? Before someone presents ‘import

substitution’ as the Holy Grail, God save us from that
predicament. Our earlier experiments only ended up producing
rent-seeking seths and the likes of the car industry that sells low-
quality tin for millions — the promised ‘localisation’ never
happened. For a start, enough of brick-and-mortar ‘plans’ that
create more liabilities than assets, besides raising pampered
generations of subsidy-sucking businessmen under the banner of
‘infant industry’ and ‘qaumi mufaad’ (national interest). Neither
do we need NOCs or hundreds of regulatory agencies to scare
away foreign and domestic investors.
The way out of our dollar cash-flow troubles lies in greater global
integration and trade, promoting competition and developing
our human capital base. For a change, take the government out
of business and let Schumpeterian creative destruction prevail
on a level playing field.
The writer is an economist and research fellow at PIDE.
shahid.mohmand@gmail.com
Twitter: @EconShahid

Collapse of civilisations
dawn.com/news/1711542/collapse-of-civilisations
September 23, 2022
FLOODS are perhaps as old as time. They have always figured

very largely in the human imagination primarily because of the
sheer magnitude of the death and destruction they visit upon
civilisations. The Bible and the Quran tell us about Noah (Nuh in
Arabic) and the flood. Other cultural histories also speak of great
floods including the ‘Great Flood of Gun-Yu’ in ancient China as
well as Manu’s flood in ancient India. However, rapid climate
change brought about by the Global North’s insatiable appetite
for more consumption and production is increasing the
frequency and intensity of such climate catastrophes. The flood
this year is of biblical proportions, indeed. If tangible steps are
not taken to prevent future climate catastrophes, the next great
flood may well lead to a collapse of civilisation in Pakistan.
This may be an evolving situation, but, as of mid-September,
according to the situation report of the National Disaster
Management Authority, these floods have wrought destruction of
epic proportions. In addition to over 1,500 deaths, more than 33
million people — including 11m children — have been severely
impacted. More than 375 bridges and almost 13,000 kilometres of
roads have been washed away. Over 1.9m homes have been
damaged, while 2.8m hectares (around 7m acres) of agricultural
land in Sindh is submerged. At the same time, the floods have
caused massive damage to livestock that serves as a primary
asset for poor people, as almost a million animals have perished
in the deluge.
Most worryingly, according to Save the Children, the floods have

caused severe destruction to schools, especially in Sindh, where
nearly 16,000 schools have been damaged or destroyed with
another 5,500 being used to house families displaced by the
floods. Disturbingly, there are many reports of large numbers of
children succumbing to malaria, dengue, cholera as well as
people suffering from various skin ailments, especially in those
flood-hit areas where the water is yet to recede. It could take
another three to six months for it to do so.
People are still trapped and awaiting help as the government, the
armed forces and various NGOs are trying their utmost to carry
out relief operations. Many figures for the reconstruction cost are
circulating, but a realistic estimate will only be possible once the
water recedes and a proper damage and needs assessment can
be carried out in the affected areas. If we extrapolate from the
assessment after the floods in 2010, while also factoring in
inflation in the last 12 years, reconstruction will cost anywhere
between $28 billion and $37bn.
Reconstruction after the flood will require continuous public expenditure for
years.
Reconstruction will require continuous public expenditure for

years. Where such a huge fiscal outlay is going to bring Pakistan’s
finances under severe stress, massive crop losses, especially
cotton, will create additional pressures on the current account,
exchange rate and fuel prices. If initial estimates that 40 per cent
of the cotton crop has been lost this year are correct, then this
translates to a gap of almost $7bn in exports under the ‘textile
group’, according to data obtained from the State Bank. And, the
longer it takes for the water to recede, the more delay this is
going to cause for wheat sowing, creating a flour supply shock
down the line. This is particularly concerning given how soaring
bread prices will not only increase poverty but could also lead to
extreme social unrest as in the case of the Arab Spring.
It appears that Pakistan is entering what Adam Tooze calls a

‘polycrisis’, with various overlapping crises — political, economic
and climate-related — reinforcing each other, while pulling
Pakistan deeper into disorder. Despite political and economic
volatility, it appears that Pakistan’s toughest, perhaps existential,
challenge is going to come from the ongoing climate crisis,
especially as there is now evidence that points towards spatial
and temporal changes in the monsoons.
A dystopian future, once the stuff of post-apocalyptic films like

Mad Max, is increasingly becoming a reality due to global
warming and climate change primarily driven by an ever-
increasing use of fossil fuels for economic production. Even
though Pakistan contributes less than 1pc of global greenhouse
gases, it remains at the receiving end of extreme climate-related
devastation. Though the field of attribution science is new,
incorporating warmer temperatures has led scientists to
conclude that “climate change had probably made this year’s
flooding worse…”.
Given the connection between economic growth, fossil fuel

energy consumption and climate change, Pakistan is a deserving
candidate for international climate reparations that will have to
be paid by nations of the Global North in order to advance the
cause of climate justice. But, in the short term, Pakistan could be
provided some breathing space from interest payments on its
external debt — even if for five years — so that the country can
divert these substantial funds towards providing relief and
rehabilitation to its flood-affected citizens. Eventually, Pakistan
will have to lead a global effort to form an international climate
fund that will offer emergency financial support for natural
disasters like this flood.
The Pakistan government should also pay internal reparations to

those who have been badly hit by the flood. It would be a good
idea to incorporate an additional criterion for climate-related
devastation in the next NFC award. This would enable the federal
government to provide more funds to Sindh — ground zero with
respect to flood-related death and destruction. Additionally, the
federal government should double the monthly BISP payout and
write off electricity bills up to 500 units for the next six months in
every flood-hit district.
Researchers have already made the connection with how climate

change destroyed the Indus Valley Civilisation 4,000 years ago.
Today, Pakistan is facing an existential crisis emanating from
rapid climate change. The country must bring Global South
nations together to ask for debt relief, while the international
community must jointly assist countries facing climate
catastrophes so as to place the world’s well-being ahead of fossil
fuels and profit.
The writer completed his doctorate in economics on a Fulbright

scholarship.
aqdas.afzal@gmail.com

Commodity crunch - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1711539/commodity-crunch
September 23, 2022
PAKISTAN is in the grip of serious food security concerns,

especially regarding the availability and high prices of edible
commodities. The devastating floods, that have washed away
farm produce, are a major reason for the commodity crunch.
Earlier, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war had also created
shortages of commodities, especially of wheat. The prices of
staples, including vegetables, have risen sharply. The tomato and
onion crop, in particular, has been severely affected.
Previously, shortages, particularly of vegetables, were met by

ready imports from neighbours, especially India via the Wagah
border, because of economical rates and low transportation
costs. This time, vegetables from India could not be imported as
direct trade with India has been disrupted since 2019 when New
Delhi illegally annexed Jammu and Kashmir. The alternative is to
import Indian commodities via Dubai, which would be costlier.
As it is, much of the Pakistan-India trade is now through the UAE,
to the detriment of Pakistani and Indian traders and consumers.
Imports have also been allowed from Iran and Afghanistan.
Another proposal is to temporarily abolish duties and taxes on
the import to stabilise commodity prices.
The floods show clearly that food security can’t be taken for
granted, and we need short-, medium- and long-term plans. The
immediate concerns pertain to the scarcity of wheat and
vegetables and the exorbitant prices of food items. Pakistan has
already initiated steps to import wheat. As for vegetables, in the
larger public interest, the government should consider importing
these from within the region, rather than far-flung countries, as a
more efficient and cost-effective alternative.
For food security in the medium term, Pakistan should factor in

the dictates of geo-economics and geography. Trading
arrangements with all its four neighbours should be encouraged
as long as better, affordable products are available and the
neighbours also open their markets for Pakistani products.
Politics aside, the socioeconomic well-being of our people should
remain the top priority. An economically stronger Pakistan can
better protect its geopolitical interests. This was prudently
stipulated in the National Security Policy. As it is, regional trade
builds peace constituencies, providing political and economic
stability. The EU and Asean experiences are a case in point. South
Asia has much to learn from them.
Trade with neighbours should be encouraged.
For the long term, Pakistani political and thought leaders need to
seriously reflect on how the needs of a growing population will
be met in the years ahead. With over 220 million inhabitants,
Pakistan is now the world’s fifth most populous country.
Estimates indicate that our population will rise to 260m by 2030
and 380m by 2050, placing enormous pressure on national
systems responsible for providing food, water, education, health,
housing, etc. Unless economic growth keeps pace with an ever-
growing population, Pakistan could face huge food shortages and
energy crunches, apart from high unemployment.
For us to become a food-secure country, we must find ways to

enhance agricultural productivity and ensure self-sufficiency in
edible items. If we cannot produce enough from our own lands,
edible items should be sourced from the region or wherever we
get better prices. We must also not lose fertile agricultural land to
urban dwellings. Even the designated agro-farms in city suburbs,
which have become palatial farmhouses, should be restored as
nurseries for growing vegetables.
Most notably, climate change has emerged as an existential

threat. Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to it.
Flash floods, torrential rains, changing patterns of monsoons,
cloudbursts, melting glaciers, heatwaves, and extreme weather
events are only some of the manifestations of climate change.
Food will be an immediate casualty of any climate-induced event
in Pakistan. Forecasts of wheat and rice production for the next
season have already been lowered owing to the floods. That
means larger import bills for meeting the people’s food
requirements. Whether it is water scarcity or abundance, we
need to learn to manage our waters.
The larger remedy to the multipronged challenges confronting
Pakistan is to let geo-economics guide our policy decisions. A
country dependent on foreign aid is not in a position to defend its
sovereignty or play geopolitics to its advantage. Conversely, a
country with a flourishing economy would be far more secure
internally and respected externally. Countries like Singapore, the
UAE and Vietnam have shown how a strong economy wins
respect in the comity of nations. The opportunities provided by
regional trade to avert commodity crunches must not be
squandered. Can we prioritise geo-economics over geopolitics?
Yes, we can, and we must.
The writer, a former foreign secretary, is director general of the

Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, and author of Diplomatic
Footprints.

Special children - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1711540/special-children
September 23, 2022
HATS off to all special children and their parents. I hold them in
great admiration, the first for their patience in facing their
challenges uncomplainingly, and the second for giving
unconditional love and care to their special offspring, seeking
absolutely nothing in return.
Hats off also to the United Nations and those members who
signed the two international human rights agreements that give
special children special rights. They are the Convention on the
Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities (CRPD). That would include Pakistan as well
which has signed and ratified the two conventions.
I must add my very strong reservations here. On both occasions,
when the two instruments were signed it was a PPP government
that was in office and that took the initiative though its
implementation record on this score has been dismal. It doesn’t
absolve other parties who neglect the duties the conventions
impose on all signatories. In such matters, it is the state that
becomes accountable and it is shameful that children are the
most neglected section of our population, irrespective of which
party is in power. To the great distress and disappointment of the
parents of special children and their compatriots, these
conventions have never provided the relief they were expected
to.
Both conventions make special mention of the special child. Thus

Article 23 of the convention on child rights states that all children
with mental or physical disability will enjoy the right to full
participation in the life of their community. It makes it
mandatory for states to extend assistance to those who care for
special children and their parents in order to facilitate the
children’s access to their rights and so that their dignity is not
violated.
Parents of special children suffer financially and emotionally.
The CRPD, too, recognises the need to adjust to the needs of

special children as they grow physically. It speaks about adapting
facilities to the physical needs of a growing child. Hence
demanding more from our government is not unreasonable. It is
the responsibility of the state to observe the commitments it had
made by virtue of signing and ratifying human rights
instruments.
There is a diverse variety of disabilities that are found in
children all over the world and medical science has yet to
discover the reasons for many of them. Hence it is not even
possible to adopt preventive measures.
Broadly, disabilities can be classified into two groups. Some

special children can be helped somewhat by being provided
training and guidance to become self-reliant in fulfilling their
own personal needs so that they are not totally dependent on
others. But there are others whose disorders are so serious that
they are beyond such assistance. They are utterly dependent on
their carers who are generally their parents with limited means.
It is the families of special children in the second category who
need support — financial and in terms of facilities.
I personally know of parents with special children who suffer

both financially and emotionally. I feel that this negligence on the
part of the government is simply unforgivable. The victims of this
official callousness and neglect are invariably the innocent young
ones who do not have a voice and are thus doubly handicapped.
Take the case of Mahira (not her real name), the daughter of a
friend of modest means, who suffers from microcephaly issues
that have not allowed her brain to develop normally. As a result,
she is mentally challenged. On account of autonomic neuropathy,
her body functions are also affected. Her sweat glands do not
work and she has no pain sensation in her extremities. Her self-
hitting disorder over which she has no control is another
challenge. Mahira needs constant supervision while she is awake,
and she needs an air-conditioned environment if her body
temperature is to be regulated.
Those who have cared for such children will understand how
agonising it can be to have a special child suffering from such
symptoms. The emotional stress the parents live with is bad
enough. On top of that, for Mahira’s family, the electricity bill
itself has become a big issue as the KE jacks up electricity charges
regularly.
How can those managing the country help in such cases? In

many ways. A programme on the pattern of the BISP and Ehsaas
could be started to provide some financial support for such
children. In cases where special facilities such as electricity/gas
are needed, concessions can be earmarked on utility bills for
families of special children. All this is not difficult to organise
since Nadra has a column for people with disabilities that should
be able to identify special children.
There is also a need to create public awareness about special

children. It is not God’s wrath being visited on parents for past
sins. This is a message that must be delivered to all sections of
society.
www.zubeidamustafa.com

Controversial project
dawn.com/news/1711383/controversial-project
September 22, 2022
THE controversial Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project

launched by former prime minister Imran Khan is again making
headlines owing to a series of protests held by the affected
farmers whose land is ‘forcibly’ being acquired for the scheme at
‘throwaway prices’. The images of heavy machinery being used
by Ruda to destroy crops to take possession of the land it says it
has already acquired and paid for have triggered a fresh wave of
criticism of the project and the treatment being meted out to the
farmers. The illustrations of the future development along the
Ravi river tweeted by Mr Khan recently have led many to believe
that he is pushing the Punjab government to move faster on the
scheme. The affected landowners insist that Ruda has violated
the Supreme Court order in its fresh push for land acquisition.
While suspending a Lahore High Court order scrapping the
project and declaring it illegal for violation of the law, the SC had
given Ruda “conditional permission to work on the land whose
compensation had been paid to the owners”. The farmers
contend that few were paid compensation. But Ruda claims that
development work was started after making payments to all
landowners under the law and that the entire amount had been
deposited in the treasury.
Even if the objections of environmentalists and urban

development experts on the project spread over more than
100,000 acres of land are put aside for a moment, the design of
the planned city completely ignores the owners of the land who
should have been the primary beneficiaries of this development.
Evicting them from the land they have owned for generations
and depriving them of their livelihoods by paying them a small
compensation is not the correct approach for any government. If
the government and the former premier want this project to
move ahead, they should ensure that the landowners and other
residents of the area are the first beneficiaries of this real estate
development unless it is envisaged exclusively for the elite and
the rich land developers.
Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2022
Opinion
Transgender identity
dawn.com/news/1711384/transgender-identity
September 22, 2022
THE question of the ‘compatibility’ of the Transgender Persons

(Protection of Rights) Act of 2018 with ‘Islamic values’, which has
been contested in a long-running case being heard by the Federal
Shariat Court, should be laid to rest. The petitioners in the case
had moved the court to strike down two important provisions in
the law: the question of who is to be considered a transgender
person, as well as an individual’s right to be recognised
according to their perceived gender identity. The court
subsequently invited a number of people, including
representatives from the transgender community, to join the
proceedings and plead their perspectives on the matter. The
move, though commendable for giving an equal voice to all
stakeholders, has also considerably prolonged deliberations. This
has meant that all those who will be affected by the case’s
eventual outcome continue to live under a shadow.
The law in question marked a major milestone in Pakistan’s

journey to enshrine the rights of individuals whose gender
identities are at odds with their biological sex, either due to an
accident of birth or castration, etc. However, the petitioners and
like-minded individuals have argued that granting people the
right to self-identify as male or female is ‘against religion’ and
‘opens the door to homosexuality’. This is a similar argument to
the one brought forth by the Jamaat-i-Islami in a bill presented to
the Senate earlier. It sought the formation of a medical board
that would control who could seek a gender change rather than
leaving the matter to individuals’ personal identification. These
arguments reflect an unfortunate and misinformed view of what
it means to be transgender. Further, equating gender non-
conformity with homosexuality is deeply problematic, as being
transgender has nothing to do with an individual’s sexual
orientation. The move to block transgender individuals’ right to
self-identify speaks more about the insecurities of those who
wish to do so than any rational desire to prevent abuse of the
law. The deep distrust of transgender persons evident in the
petition and those supporting it is one of the root causes behind
the community being as marginalised as it is today. We as a
nation must learn` to stop ostracising people based on their
deviances from widely held norms. It is hoped that good sense
will prevail in this case, and the transgender community will be
allowed their long-denied right to identify and be treated as
equal citizens.
Opinion
Funding gaps - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1711385/funding-gaps
September 22, 2022
AS Pakistan moves to the rehabilitation and rebuilding phases in

the aftermath of this year’s devastating floods, the glaring gaps in
funding needed to finance these critical activities are becoming
obvious. The unfortunate fact that the country was going through
intense economic turbulence before the floods hit — and is yet to
find its fiscal balance — is certainly not helping. Pakistan’s plight
in this regard was raised at the UN General Assembly where
Secretary General António Guterres, who was recently in the
country on a solidarity visit, told the world that “Pakistan is
drowning, not only in floodwater but in debt” too. Regrettably,
international appeals to help Pakistan at this difficult time have
yet to receive a robust response. For example, a senior Unicef
official has said that out of the $39m needed for the country’s
flood-hit children, less than a third of the required amount has
landed, while minors’ health, nutrition and education needs will
only grow. A US State Department official has also said the world
needs to make more of an effort to help Pakistan, while
American Senator Bob Menendez has described his country’s
flood-related help to Pakistan as a “drop in the bucket”.
Additionally, while meeting an EU delegation on Tuesday, Senator
Mushahid Hussain termed the bloc’s help to Pakistan as
“peanuts”.
It is quite clear that donor fatigue has set in, and the amounts
pledged and delivered to Pakistan are indeed ‘peanuts’,
especially when the prime minister has said post-flood
rehabilitation will cost “trillions” of rupees. The cold, hard truth
is that developed states can spend billions of dollars on waging
war, yet are quite stingy when it comes to helping developing
states cope with catastrophes. Both the US and EU have funnelled
billions of dollars into the Ukraine war, while the cost of
America’s Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns is in the trillions. Yet
both these foreign actors have given only a few million dollars
for Pakistan’s flood relief. It should be reiterated that Pakistan is
not asking for charity, but justice, as the prime minister has
stressed. There is wide consensus that the floods were
exacerbated by climate change, and Pakistan has hardly
contributed to greenhouse gas emissions, and is paying the price
for the ecological negligence of others.
While the global economy may be slowing down, our foreign

friends can certainly do more to help Pakistan rebuild. Moreover,
Pakistan’s elite must loosen their purse strings and help fellow
citizens in this time of dire crisis. The middle class is hard-
pressed and cannot donate much due to economic stagnation;
but those with means can certainly make a greater contribution
to the rehabilitation effort. Further, foreign creditors should also
consider the UN secretary general’s appeal for debt reduction
and debt-swap mechanisms. Pakistan is at this point in no
position to immediately repay heavy debts, and the focus should
be on rebuilding.

Opinion
Judicial reconciliation
dawn.com/news/1711386/judicial-reconciliation
September 22, 2022
“Though there had been personal rivalries among judges in the

Supreme Court in the past, the Chandrachud-Bhagwati
disagreement was unique for how incredibly public it was.
Several judges were highly critical of how publicly the court had
polarised, and how it had developed into two factions — a
Chandrachud faction and a Bhagwati faction.” — Abhinav
Chandrachud, Supreme Whispers
AS tensions between judges of the apex court come to the fore

once again, questions have emerged as to whether the court can
continue to safeguard the rights and interests of the public when
its chief justice and senior puisne judge refuse to engage despite
“sharing a wall”. With the memory of Justice Saeed-uz-Zaman’s
revolt and chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah’s unceremonious exit
fresh in the minds of most Pakistanis, is the present crisis a
harbinger for another constitutional breakdown or can the
situation be salvaged?
Before dilating on the future, however, where does the genesis of

the current discord lie? While many associate the current conflict
with the malicious and ill-advised reference against Justice Isa,
tensions between judges began to threaten the functioning of the
Supreme Court well before the initiation of the said reference.
In 2018, a bench comprising then chief justice Saqib Nisar, Justice

Isa, and Justice Mansoor Ali Shah was hearing a case when, upon
Justice Isa expressing reservations with the court’s human rights
cell initiating cases, chief justice Nisar rose from his seat,
announcing that the bench would be reconstituted. Justice Isa
subsequently wrote a note observing that it was “unprecedented
to reconstitute a bench whilst hearing a case. To do so
undermines the integrity of the system and may have serious
repercussions”. Concurring with Justice Isa, Justice Shah
observed: “Naturally, the judge knows the law and the power it
grants to the judge, but he must also learn the limits imposed on
him as a judge.” The present crisis is, thus, the culmination of
tensions which have been simmering under the surface for
nearly half a decade. Where then do we go from here?
Dialogue is the first stop on the road to reconciliation.
Constitution of benches: Order XI of the Supreme Court Rules

vests the chief justice with the power to constitute benches.
Nonetheless, recent years have witnessed unprecedented
scrutiny into the manner in which such powers are exercised
and the frequency with which some judges are entrusted with
the hearing of politically consequential cases. Lamenting the
exclusion of certain judges from benches hearing politically
sensitive cases, former justice Maqbool Baqar, in his retirement
speech, cautioned that such exclusion affects the morale of
judges consigned to irrelevant benches and fosters “feelings of
estrangement”.
Resultantly, while Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial’s decision to

include Justice Isa on the same bench as himself was a welcome
change, it may also be time to structure the powers under Order
XI so as to entail meaningful consultation with the two senior-
most judges of the court, thus making the process more inclusive
and transparent.
Appointments to the judiciary: Given the acrimony that

characterised the Judicial Commission of Pakistan’s previous
meeting, the JCP remains paralysed as nearly a third of the seats
in the apex court remain vacant while judges like Justice Rizvi of
the Sindh High Court, despite their integrity and competence,
await their elevation due to the JCP’s dysfunctionality.
It is, therefore, critical that the concerns of the commission’s

members are assuaged and appointments are not viewed as a
turf war for competing ideologies where judges, notwithstanding
their merit, are rejected on tenuous grounds like ‘temperament’
or based on unfounded allegations as regards their integrity.
Open channels of communication: Notwithstanding the

judicialisation of mega politics over the last year and the internal
divisions within the apex court, no meeting of the full court has
been summoned for nearly two years. Unsurprisingly, with
channels of communication entirely shut, reservations that
would ordinarily be raised internally are done so through letters,
thus exacerbating tensions and extinguishing the possibility of
reconciliation. With dialogue being the first stop on the road to
reconciliation, can there be any reconciliation in the absence of
meaningful dialogue?
The people of Pakistan look upon the apex court as a custodian of

the Constitution, and the fate of the court rests in the hands of
the chief justice and senior puisne judge. While Chief Justice
Bandial and Justice Isa have both had illustrious careers, their
legacy shall be determined by their ability to put aside their
differences in the interest of preserving the interests of the
institution whose dignity they have sworn to uphold. Will they
succeed or are we on the brink of another judicial crisis? The
dignity of the court hangs in the balance!
The writer is a lawyer.
Twitter: @MoizBaig26

The royal rub - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1711387/the-royal-rub
September 22, 2022
NO monarch in history could have planned their own funeral in

such detail (as Queen Elizabeth II did), and no subjects could
have executed it with such dignified finesse. The Incas had their
rituals, the Chinese their Ming mounds and terracotta warriors,
the ancient Egyptians their pyramids and gilded sarcophagi, but
no ruler has been laid to rest so publicly, with so much respect
and genuine regard.
From the moment her cortege left Balmoral Castle until her final
interment in Windsor 10 days later, there was not a moment
when cameras were not trained on her coffin or her grieving
family. She had spent her life in the glare of the media’s gaze.
That relentless intrusion continued until her coffin sank into the
royal vault.
Over the 70 years of her reign, the late queen had perfected the
image of monarchy. Most people have forgotten Lord
Altrincham’s trenchant criticism of her high-pitched voice as a
“pain in the neck”. She corrected that with elocution lessons.
Some criticised her dowdy clothes. She then adopted brightly
coloured outfits with matching flowered hats which ensured that
she stood out in a crowd. She humoured the media because she
knew without it she would have been like Queen Victoria, a
distant myth.
In public, she always said the right thing and never put a foot
wrong. She kept her personal opinions to herself or relegated
them to the privacy of her daily diary.
She stood absolutely impassive and expressionless.
To have witnessed her in the performance of her public duties

(as I was privileged to do) was to see a consummate actress,
memorising her part from the briefing book that scripted her
daily movements. That book specified who she would meet,
when, where and why. Every half-hour was accounted for in
advance, and once approved by her was followed meticulously.
Queen Elizabeth II came twice to Pakistan with her less discreet

but equally conscientious husband Prince Philip. In 1961, her
host was the president general, Ayub Khan, who, before 1947,
had served in her father’s British Indian Army. Fifty-four years
old, he treated his younger royal guest with an almost avuncular
gallantry.
In 1997, president Farooq A. Leghari — almost 15 years the

queen’s junior — hosted her in Islamabad. His unstoppable
loquaciousness delayed her flight to Karachi, disrupting an
already compressed programme there. After spending half a day
at Karachi, the royal party came to Lahore. That evening’s
programme had already been etched: a drive by car to the
Lahore Fort, dinner in the Diwan-i-Khas, a display of fireworks
and then a return drive to Governor House.
Nawaz Sharif, then prime minister, decided to play host in his

home city. Because president Farooq Leghari had driven with the
queen in the state landau to Parliament House, Nawaz Sharif
wanted to repeat the ritual at Lahore. He had the carriage and
horses brought by overnight train from Rawalpindi to Lahore.
Hurriedly, at almost the last moment, the palace staff was
informed that the queen would now be expected to drive to the
Fort where she would disembark at the Picture Wall gate. From
there, she and Nawaz Sharif would ride in the horse-drawn
carriage up the steep road leading to the Diwan-i-Aam.
Suggestions that the road may prove slippery for the horses or
that as there would be no one in the cavernous unlit brick
canyon to see the queen were brushed aside by the Prime
Minister’s Office.
The procession was duly formed and proceeded fortunately

without mishap up the steep incline. At the Diwan-i-Aam, the
party disembarked and then walked towards the Diwan-i-Khas.
Again the prime minister had his own ideas. He wanted the 200
or so VIP dinner guests to welcome the royal guests at the Diwan-
i-Aam, and then walk behind them into the dining area in the
Diwan-i-Khas. I anticipated the result. The queen would enter an
empty quadrangle. Sure enough, she and the PM came and
walked past the only two people there — my wife and myself.
“Please clap,” the prime minister whispered to us in Urdu.

When the main party had taken their places in the dramatic
proscenium setting of the marble pavilion built by the Mughals,
the national anthems of both countries were played. I watched
the queen’s reaction. She stood absolutely impassive and
expressionless, but I did notice that for some time she rubbed her
thumb against her forefinger.
When the anthems had been played, dinner was served. The high
table had waiters; the rest of the guests scrambled for a wedding-
style buffet.
All too familiar with our social discourtesies, I had held on to two
chairs for the queen’s ladies in waiting. Once they had settled, I
asked one of them: ‘When Her Majesty is angry, does she by any
chance rub her thumb against her forefinger?’
“How did you know?”
The writer is a former honorary British consul, Lahore (1995-

2022).

Who should make policy?
dawn.com/news/1711388/who-should-make-policy
September 22, 2022
‘INCREMENTAL’ budgeting is generally practised by the

government of Pakistan. That means that the Ministry of
Finance’s recurrent budgets are not based on costing the latest
development plans but, in effect, previous budgets are slightly
raised or decreased, depending upon the available funds, with
exceptions such as a new government’s few pet initiatives.
Ideally, plans should drive budgeting —the budget ought
essentially to be derived from the cost of the plans. But the latest
plans may not be harmonised with incremental budgets. And
since the finance ministry is the IMF’s counterpart, this is cited as
another reason for its pivotal role. The result is that the finance
ministry largely determines national development policy.
In the last few decades, the ministry has often been led by
persons with a background in banking or accounting or
economics — usually with strong IMF/World Bank links. Some of
our key socioeconomic areas such as child malnutrition now fall
in the range for least developed countries. Stunting in children
under five years is 36.7 per cent in Pakistan, 35.1pc in
Afghanistan, 29.6pc in Syria and 6.3pc in Iran. What can be a
source of greater shame for the rich than the fact that one-third
of their country’s under-five population is now classified as
stunted due to long periods of insufficient nutrient intake and
frequent infections? Unicef reports that, in Pakistan, 22 million
children (five to 16 years) are out of school. It is time to reassess
who ought to make national development policy.
A look at the kind of issues that need to be considered in national
development policy can indicate the qualities policymakers
ought to have to address them.
For example: should healthcare include free school meals for

those who qualify? Should there be an emphasis on preventive
or on curative healthcare? What percentage should be spent on
clean drinking water and mosquito control? Should there be a
few hi-tech facilities in big cities, or less sophisticated but more
numerous and widely dispersed facilities? Should medical
education be subsidised, knowing that many applicants aim to
emigrate? Should regulations and subsidies favour big business,
hoping for trickle-down — or should there be a level playing field
for all? Should there be indirect taxation (putting the burden on
the poor) or direct taxation (that leads to facing the wrath of the
powerful)? Price controls for all essential food items or direct
subsidy for the deserving?
Economists should be instrumental, with their insights being key inputs in
public policy decision-making.
When state subsidy to businesses is deemed justified, for

instance, to promote exports, should the state/citizens also get a
share of the resulting profits? Is social protection for the poor,
the unemployed, the old, etc, an extravagance that a poor
country can’t afford, or is nurturing citizens a necessary
investment? Should agricultural water distribution be through
the customary method, with 50pc utilisation or via efficient
design by technical experts though that will likely antagonise
influential landowners? What about a well-rounded education
(literature, poetry)? Or should the focus be on science and
vocational skills?
While immensely valuable in their field, bankers or accountants
have little relevance to policy issues in the areas listed. Further,
with a few worthy exceptions who have a much broader
perspective and vast experience, the former staffers of
multilaterals are oriented to follow their given institutional
policies and procedures (for example, recovery of loans
disbursed).
So, what qualities are required in policymakers to address issues

such as those mentioned? They include: being truly aware of the
people’s living conditions and their needs; understanding
society’s core values and priorities; empathising with the people;
loyalty only to this country; deep knowledge and experience in
one or more sectors, or in administration; being chosen by the
people as their representative; not having any conflict of interest
in terms of (a) one’s enterprise; (b) association with a foreign
institution; (c) or expectation of future benefits from a business,
multilateral agency or foreign institution, as a result of policy
work for the government.
“Economists have no special competence in determining what

the objectives should be, but they can help in translating the
objectives into a more operational form,” said M.S. Ahluwalia
(United Nations University). In general, the work of economists
can involve analyses of public policy proposals and evaluating
them for impact, such as research and economic analyses of
issues; organising surveys and collecting data; analysing data
using statistical methods; interpreting and forecasting trends;
making recommendations for designing policy or for dealing
with economic challenges. It can also involve questions such as,
‘what could be the impact on the labour market of an increase in
the minimum wage or the cost to the economy of regulations and
subsidies favouring big business?’ Economists should be
instrumental, with their economic research and insights being
key inputs in public policy decision-making.
Nevertheless, it is crucial to understand that economic analysis is

only one input in the overall deliberations. The economic analyst
must not be confused with the policymaker or decision-maker
who should have a much broader view and vision. Policymakers
must use the broadest perspective (including considerations such
as citizens’ needs and expectations, fairness, and equality, an
analysis of interest groups and an understanding of the influence
of sociopolitical institutions, national development strategy, long-
term national goals and economic implications) and then develop
priorities based on all the varied considerations and make
informed policy decisions.
The excessive policy determining authority acquired by the

finance ministry needs to be curtailed. Planning and sectoral
ministries ought to get their due say in assigning policy priorities
and subsequent budget allocations.
Political parties need to be ready with policies, plans and

personnel before they come into government, otherwise the
bureaucracy may understandably continue with business as
usual. National development policymaking ought to be entrusted
to people with the requisite background and qualities.
The writer is the author of Pakistan: Principles of Public Policy

Redefined — How to fast track progress and win over citizens.
zua2@cornell.edu

Loss and damage - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1711389/loss-and-damage
September 22, 2022
THE recent flood disaster in the country has triggered an

unprecedented interest in Pakistan’s climate crisis and global
climate injustice. It is now commonly said that whereas
Pakistan’s share in global carbon emissions is miniscule, an
unfair burden has fallen on the country’s economy and poor
population. The scale and magnitude of economic and non-
economic losses, two core concerns of the ‘loss and damage’
concept, have brought to the forefront the demand for
reparations.
The present policy discourse in the country is, however, out of

sync with the international climate diplomacy we have
traditionally pursued since 1992 when Pakistan signed the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The present debate offers a rare opportunity for us to revisit
some of our decades-old assumptions and reset the direction of
many undeclared policy actions and inactions.
‘Loss and damage’ is a fairly precise technical term used in

international climate negotiations. The term fundamentally
refers to climate impacts that exceed the adaptive capacity of
countries, communities and ecosystems. This concerns those
losses and damage that cannot be reversed or restored, a
measure of post-adaptation and post-mitigation scenarios. In
other words, the concept is about the consequences of climate
change that go beyond what people can adapt to, be it a slow
onset of the process or extreme weather events. The concept is
entangled in such vexing issues as climate justice, reparations
and compensation. Nothing divides the Global South and Global
North more in climate negotiations than this. The divide has
been widening since the Earth Summit in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro
where the principle of ‘shared but differentiated responsibility’
was first adopted. The international climate finance institutions
that have emerged since then have diluted the principle, eroding
its centrality to climate change negotiations.
The demands for a compensatory mechanism were first aired in

Rio by the Alliance of Small Island States (ASIS). Over the years,
Pakistan and other countries have realised that they too are
affected by climate change that was beyond their coping
capacities. Pakistan was, however, determined to keep itself
aloof. It distanced itself not only from the debate but also from
the processes that began to unfold at the annual climate
summits, formally starting with the Nairobi Work Programme
(2005), and progressing on to the Bali Action Plan (2009), Cancun
Adaptation Framework (2010), Warsaw International Mechanism
(2013) and the Santiago Network (2019). Pakistan’s engagement
in these processes was negligible, as it hardly served on their
working groups or drafting committees. In fact, its technical
participation in these negotiations rarely exceeded tokenism.
We should seek finance for loss and damage, instead of seeking liability and
compensation.
As the demand for financial support from the developing

countries became louder, loss and damage was taken up as an
issue by several northern organisations — think tanks,
universities, international NGOs, networks, and rights-based
organisations, often providing research and technical
backstopping to developing countries’ negotiators. These groups
in fact, in many ways, shaped and informed the negotiations and
enhanced the capacities of their southern counterpart think
tanks and CSOs. Pakistan, wittingly or unwittingly, distanced
itself from these non-state actors and loss and damage-related
formal processes.
Instead, it followed an undeclared three-track policy of avoiding

closer relations with i) those who argued for climate justice and
climate rights and had rights-based constituencies, ii)
vulnerability-based groups, most notably the 48-member Climate
Vulnerability Forum of Most Vulnerable Countries, presumably
because most of its members were least developed countries and
the policymakers did not always find it convincing to engage
with them, and iii) island countries organised under the rubric of
the 48-member ASIS. These three constituencies often
overlapped, but were always at the centre of negotiations on loss
and damage.
This is how Pakistan missed an opportunity to engage on the
substance and processes of loss and damage, failed to augment
its capacities and competences, and was unable to project and
strengthen its soft power. Pakistan is a large country with a fairly
elaborate infrastructure and institutions that indeed had plenty
to contribute to the global climate discourse, as it had done at the
Earth Summit in 1992.
This is not to imply that the negotiations are complete. Far from
it. In fact, after three decades, it’s only now that the issue is
becoming part of the main negotiating agenda. With the
inclusion of Article 8 of the Paris Agreement, loss and damage is
now embedded as a thematic pillar under the UNFCCC, together
with mitigation and adaptation. It is important for Pakistan to
recognise that under the adopted guidelines for implementation
of the Paris Agreement, vulnerable countries will report a)
climate-related losses, b) what they are doing to deal with them,
and c) include the information on the help they would need. Also,
reviewing and assessing data on loss and damage will be
included in a five-yearly exercise of estimating progress on the
Paris Agreement.
The Paris Agreement does not refer to finance related to loss and
damage. Instead, the decision states that loss and damage “does
not involve or provide a basis for any liability or compensation”.
The developed countries are averse to the idea of compensating
for losses and damage caused by adverse climate impacts. They
are apprehensive that it may be seen as an admission of legal
liability, triggering litigation and compensation claims. An
argument for Pakistan, therefore, is to seek finance for loss and
damage, instead of seeking liability and compensation.
Developed countries could possibly provide these funds not
because of legal liability but because supporting vulnerable
countries facing unavoidable threats from climate change is the
right thing to do. Pakistan needs solidarity at this moment.
Participation in UNGA and COP-27 provides an opportunity to
cultivate a spirit of solidarity.
The present wave of disasters provides us with a chance to

revisit our level of interest and devise a new engagement
strategy. To begin with, Pakistan has a narrow window of
opportunity to embed loss and damage in the third edition of its
Nationally Determined Contribution and submit it to the UNFCCC
Secretariat prior to COP-27 in November. It will help create a
momentum for international support and solidarity with
Pakistan. It is a particularly opportune moment since Pakistan is
presently chairing the all-important Group of 77.
The writer is an expert on climate change and development.

Karachi chaos - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1711225/karachi-chaos
September 21, 2022
THERE is a palpable sense of insecurity that citizens across the

country must have felt recently, thanks to the harsh realities of
living through a slow-burning economic crisis. However, in
Karachi, this insecurity has taken a particularly twisted form
ever since some elements tried to tie a series of recent mugging-
related deaths to rumours about ‘dangerous criminals’ relocating
to the city after the recent floods. WhatsApp groups are now
abuzz with moral panic, and the MQM, true to its roots, is
demanding more firearm licences for locals.
A worrying increase in lynching incidents and vigilante justice

has followed the initial wave of citizen deaths during mugging
attempts. The city’s police chief, Additional Inspector General
Javed Odho, has made matters worse. After initially dismissing
complaints of rising street crime as panic-mongering, he has
taken a problematic step that will encourage more people to take
the law into their hands. After a mugging incident on Monday
saw the victim kill one of the suspects, the city police chief
promptly announced a Rs50,000 ‘award’ for the former. There is
a troubling history to such rewards. A similar one was handed to
a citizen in 2016 for acting ‘valiantly’ in gunning down two
suspects who had tried to rob his family. While conferring the
award, a former Sindh police chief had encouraged other citizens
to ‘assist’ the police through similar ‘efforts’. It appears Mr Odho
has taken a leaf out of that playbook. While public anger against
violent crime is and should remain high, it is highly irresponsible
for the police to encourage people to mete out punishments on
the streets. It is the police which is ultimately responsible for
ensuring the safety of life and property of all citizens; it should
make an effort to uphold that responsibility to the best of its
abilities, not look for an easy way out by encouraging vigilantism.
In a city that still smoulders with ethnic, sectarian and political
tensions, it can quickly turn into a recipe for disaster.
Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2022
Opinion
Exporting Hindutva
dawn.com/news/1711226/exporting-hindutva
September 21, 2022
AS Hindutva ideologues have moved from the fringes of Indian

society to the centre of power, this anti-Muslim ideology is now
being ‘exported’ to foreign shores. A recent incident in the US
state of New Jersey created an uproar when a bulldozer —
festooned with the picture of the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh,
who doubles as a radical Hindu holy man — participated in an
Indian independence day parade. The bulldozer has been used to
terrorise Muslim communities by demolishing homes in India.
The hate is spreading, with the latest ugly manifestation of
Hindutva in foreign climes occurring in the British city of
Leicester. The city has been on edge since the Aug 28 Asia Cup
match between Pakistan and India, when fans of the latter
reportedly shouted ‘death to Pakistan’. The crisis escalated after
some 200 men staged an aggressive march in the Midlands city
chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’. Indian Muslims are familiar with this
refrain; what is supposed to be a religious exclamation has been
transformed by the Sangh Parivar into a battle cry against
Muslims. Members of the Muslim community have staged
counter protests, and local police say they have arrested 47
individuals in connection with the disturbances. According to the
Muslim Council of Britain, an advocacy group, this is part of a
“series of provocations” which have included chanting outside
mosques, as well as targeting Muslim homes and businesses.
These grim developments indicate that Hindutva now also poses

a significant threat to communal harmony in the West.
Illustrating how serious the threat is, members of the Democratic
Party in New Jersey have asked the American government to
investigate US-based Hindutva outfits as “domestic branches” of
“foreign hate groups”. Western governments must not
underestimate the threat that outfits connected to the Sangh
Parivar pose to their domestic security. Just as these states keep a
vigilant eye on Muslim extremists, pro-Hindutva fanatics must
also be watched to stop them from creating communal problems
in the West. Moreover, numerous West-based charities linked to
the Sangh Parivar need to be investigated to ensure they are not
funnelling funds to India that help finance anti-Muslim hatred.
Progressive Hindu groups in the US have spoken out against
Hindutva mischief in that country. Indeed, to defeat the designs
of fanatics, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh community leaders need to
work together to prevent the poison of communalism from
further infecting the diaspora.
Opinion
Self-inflicted wounds
dawn.com/news/1711227/self-inflicted-wounds
September 21, 2022
TRUTH be told, the selection of the army chief has always been a
political issue. How could it be otherwise in a country where the
military has ruled directly for many years of its existence, and —
with the establishment’s machinations — spent much of the
remainder manipulating the political landscape, including
through the once-powerful presidency, to ensure its
preeminence? For civilian governments, therefore, a principal
consideration in selecting the head of this powerful institution is
to maximise the chances of its own survival — making this as
political a decision as one could be. Never before, however, has
the impending appointment whipped up so much sound and
fury. Courtesy Imran Khan’s fulminations, the issue has been
made controversial to an unprecedented degree. Having said
only a few weeks ago that the opposition had nothing to do with
the selection, the PTI chairman now appears to have made it into
the holy grail of his campaign to regain power. At a rally in
Chakwal on Monday, he again thundered that the army chief be
selected on “merit” and that “thieves” should never be allowed to
undertake the task.
Why Mr Khan is currently priming this issue as the main weapon

in his arsenal is difficult to say. Perhaps it is a realisation that the
pressure he is building on the establishment may be reaching
critical mass and elections could be sooner rather than later;
perhaps it is payback for the PDM having deprived him of the
opportunity. Certainly, part of the impetus behind the coalition’s
no-confidence motion against the PTI government was its
suspicion that Mr Khan as premier had settled on a particular
general believed to have facilitated his rise to power — and kept
the then opposition on the ropes — to be the next COAS.
However, as the artificially engineered demise of several
governments, including that of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir
Bhutto (twice) and Nawaz Sharif (twice) illustrate, institutional
allegiance overrides all else. So deeply embedded is this skewed
power dynamic that the converse — the absence of meddling —
also has political repercussions. Former prime minister Imran
Khan himself has alleged that his government fell because the
establishment chose a strategic ‘hands off’ approach. In other
words, his undoing was the ‘neutral’ stance — which, it bears
reminding, is a constitutional requirement for the military.
The civilian leadership must shoulder part of the blame for the
extreme distortion of the political landscape. Extensions in the
tenure of army chiefs, whose first beneficiary (under a civilian
dispensation) was Gen Ashfaq Kayani during the PPP
government, have further politicised what should be a routine
appointment. But that is part of a much bigger problem, one that
stems from the fact that the military has repeatedly overstepped
constitutional boundaries. Having queered this pitch throughout
Pakistan’s history, it must suggest a way out and then leave
governance to those elected by the people.

Opinion
Putin’s comeuppance
dawn.com/news/1711228/putins-comeuppance
September 21, 2022
VLADIMIR Putin was already licking his wounds when he turned

up in Samarkand last week for the Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation summit. Just days earlier, Russian occupying forces
in the Kharkiv region had suffered a significant rout when a
Ukrainian offensive took them by surprise. That, in turn,
prompted some of the fiercest, ultra-nationalist supporters of the
invasion to openly question the Russian high command’s tactics
and strategy.
That, in fact, has been fairly disastrous from the inception of

Putin’s ill-conceived enterprise. Nor are the demands for a
military escalation and a national mobilisation novel. What’s
new is fears in cities like Belgorod on the Russian side of the
volatile border about Ukrainian incursions.
That’s a measure of how poorly the Russian forces have
performed over nearly seven months, beginning with a ludicrous
attempt to take control of Kyiv. There have also been territorial
gains for Russia in that period, and it is far from clear how many
of those can militarily be reversed by Ukrainian troops equipped
with extraordinary amounts of Western weaponry and,
presumably, tactical advice and intelligence.
Still, it’s fairly clear that the invaders are on the back foot at the
moment. But if Putin travelled to Uzbekistan expecting some
kind of restorative balm for his injuries, he must have been
sorely taken aback by Xi Jinping’s private rebuke and Narendra
Modi’s public reproach.
Even Russia’s supposed allies are now berating its leader.
The words exchanged between Putin and Xi have not been

publicised, but the encounter was sufficiently sobering for the
Russian president to acknowledge the Chinese leader’s “concerns
and questions” about the war. The two had last met in Beijing on
the eve of the war, and declared a ‘forever’ friendship. But,
contrary to some expectations, that has not involved any supply
of weapons from China or assistance from Beijing in defying
Western sanctions.
India, on the other hand, has capitalised on discounted Russian

oil supplies in the face of pressure on New Delhi from its Western
allies to downgrade its long-standing ties with Moscow. At
Samarkand, however, Modi bluntly told Putin at a joint press
conference: “Today’s era is not an era of war, and I have spoken
to you on the phone about this.”
Putin responded by saying: “We will do our best to stop this as
soon as possible. Only, unfortunately, the opposing side, the
leadership of Ukraine, announced its abandonment of the
negotiation process, declared that it wants to achieve its goals by
military means, as they say, ‘on the battlefield’.”
The obvious irony here is that the battlefield was Putin’s choice.
Furthermore, it has also proved to be his comeuppance. Russia’s
disastrous military performance has come as a relief to its ex-
Soviet neighbours in Central Asia, and facilitated China’s goal to
exercise greater influence in that region. Xi visited Kazakhstan
before arriving in Uzbekistan, and must have been pleased with
his reception. It should hardly be surprising that those Asian
republics see Beijing as a far more promising economic ally than
Moscow.
Back in Moscow, meanwhile, the backlash against the invasion

continues to gather force. Some of the most vocal opponents of
the war have already moved to the West, and the general public
prefers not to broadcast its opinions, given the prospect of
massive fines, imprisonment, or worse. That makes it all the
more intriguing that one of the brightest stars in the Soviet and
subsequently Russian pop firmament has denounced the
“illusory goals” of the aggression, saying it was “turning our
country into a pariah and worsening the lives of our citizens”.
Alla Pugacheva has been a megastar for decades, and the

recipient of numerous accolades from both the USSR and its
main successor state. State TV described her a “prima donna of
the national stage” on her 70th birthday three years ago. Now,
she’s willing to be “added to the ranks of foreign agents of my
beloved country”, after her husband was declared as such
because of his opposition to the war.
In Russia today, pleas for peace are far more patriotic than the
neo-fascistic demands for escalation, amid fears that a cornered
Putin might eventually resort to tactical weapons from his
nation’s formidable nuclear arsenal. That would truly be
madness, but then, the invasion of Ukraine in the first place was
hardly a demonstration of sanity.
The Western role in wooing Ukraine over the years raises

innumerable questions, but naked aggression was hardly a
reasonable response. It was bound to backfire in various ways,
some of them unpredictable. If Putin really wanted to end the
war, he could do so tomorrow. The alternative for him is further
domestic and international humiliation.
Pugacheva, meanwhile, might draw comfort from the Soviet-era

verses of her late compatriot Yevgeny Yevtushenko: “How
sharply our children will be ashamed/ taking at last their
vengeance for these horrors/ remembering how in so strange a
time/ common integrity could look like courage.”

Save education - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1711229/save-education
September 21, 2022
IN the wake of the devastating countrywide floods, public

education faces an existential threat in several places. In Sindh
alone, initial assessments indicate that almost 16,000 out of a
total of 36,646 functional public schools have been badly
damaged, either directly by the floodwater or by those who took
shelter in them. School infrastructure was already in tatters, and
the floods have made it worse.
In any given month, student absenteeism remains high —

between 40pc and 60pc according to some estimates. Dropout
rates at the primary level — are massive; reportedly, almost 50pc
of children walk out of school before reaching Class 5, and the
transition from primary to secondary school remains stubbornly
low. Of course, it is no secret that the quality of education
continues to be of serious concern, with periodic surveys and
assessments highlighting low scores in language (English, Urdu
and Sindhi) mathematics and general science tests. While the
percentage share of education in the provincial outlay increased
from 13.4pc in 2011 to 18.5pc in 2017, the overall impact on the
school environment has been negligible.
Meanwhile, the population of out-of-school children is growing.

The numbers falling under this category across primary, middle,
secondary and higher secondary school in Sindh is estimated at
6.75 million children aged from five to 16 years; the number of
children dropping out has seen an increase from 1.87m in 2007-
08 to 2.57m. My experience while working on international
projects focusing on education in Sindh tells me that these
numbers could be inflated, as the government, which wants
foreign loans and grants, is not prepared to correct them.
Nonetheless, the issue of children dropping out of school remains
a serious concern.
Due to these woes, millions of children continue to be deprived of

their constitutional right to education, while huge urban-rural as
well as gender inequalities abound in the province. Half the
people live in the rural areas where chronic problems like
illiteracy, out-of-school children, a growing population, and poor
learning outcomes refuse to go away. For example, according to
some estimates, literacy may actually have declined from 60pc to
58pc. With regard to urban-rural differences, 73pc of the
population (10 years and above) is said to be literate in the urban
areas whereas in the rural areas, the figure is only 39pc. When it
comes to literacy among girls, matters are even worse.
Millions are being deprived of their constitutional right.
Why has the education crisis remained unsolvable since
independence? We have seen many rulers — military dictators
and civilian leaders — come and go but an effective and efficient
solution to the chronic ills that beset this sector of national life
has eluded everyone. Over seven decades, several education
policies, five-year plans, and dozens of development schemes
have attempted to put the system on track but all efforts have
been in vain.
Faulty planning, deficient governance, poverty, and lack of

awareness about the importance of education among parents are
commonly cited as the main reasons behind the continuous
failure of the effort to boost learning. The hard truth is that these
problems could have been effectively tackled — had the ruling
elite demonstrated a sincere commitment towards education. For
them, the children of the poor and powerless don’t matter
beyond rhetoric and cosmetic gestures. Following the 18th
Constitutional Amendment, education became a fundamental
right, but despite that, allocation in terms of GDP percentage
continues to be ridiculously low. Clearly, no priority is attached to
educating our children.
Sadly, education is no longer a common good but a commodity,

only accessible to those who can afford it. Well-off parents have
no interest in the public education system. Market-based solu-
tions have birthed multiple schooling systems ie English-medium
elite schools, private schools, low-cost private schools, religious
schools, etc. A hierarchical schooling system is reinforcing
existing social stratifications and biases. The government doesn’t
have a clear policy on how to tackle the challenge; it can only
come up with haphazardly prepared education plans and
projects, which obviously don’t work.
The growing urban and rural and gender inequalities in
education cannot be plugged unless the whole paradigm of
education planning and implementation is reviewed and
radically revised. Business as usual has never worked. The flood
not only offers an opportunity to address the chronic problems
listed here but also a chance to make education resilient to
climate change. It is up to the policymakers to turn the challenge
into an opportunity and find innovative solutions that could pave
the way for change in Sindh.
The writer is an educationist. Has worked with local and

international organisations in Pakistan.
asgharsoomro@gmail.com

‘In the nightmare of the dark’
dawn.com/news/1711230/in-the-nightmare-of-the-dark
September 21, 2022
EMMANUEL Macron, the man who has led France since 2017,
gave an ominous speech at a cabinet meeting before he left his
country to attend the funeral of the recently expired Queen of
England. “What we are currently living through is a kind of
major tipping point or a great upheaval … we are living the end
of what could have seemed an era of abundance … the end of the
abundance of products of technologies that seemed always
available … the end of the abundance of land and materials
including water”.
Macron’s portentous statement caught my attention because it

announced with apparent candour, the end of something good.
Used to the pronouncements of Pakistani leaders for whom
abundance lies in some perpetually deferred future, I wondered
what sort of political imperative could have goaded the French
president to make such a declaration. Things in Europe have
been bad, of course, and the French have faced their own
barrage of natural disasters in the form of fires and floods that
have coursed up and down the country with fury. At the other
end, the European Commission has warned that two-thirds of
Europe is facing the threat of drought, perhaps the worst of its
kind “for at least 500 years”.
With Russian President Putin (whom our own prime minister

met in Samarkand last week) adamant that natural gas supplies
to Nato countries will remain suspended, Macron and his
colleagues in the EU face the prospect of preparing resource-
spoilt publics for an era of relative want.
In modern times, France and Germany have hardly experienced

winters defined by hypothermia and chattering teeth brought on
by the inability to heat one’s home. Indeed, those sorts of winters
are the stuff of literature, of a burgeoning rather than a
dwindling Industrial Revolution. The first factory workers of
Europe experienced desperation as they migrated from farm to
city to work in dingy and dark workshops and warehouses, so
that the “abundant” future whose end Macron has announced
could be reached. It is also true that this Industrial Revolution
that is spoken of so fondly in the West and in Europe was the
product of looting, killing and pillaging all around the rest of the
world. The Europeans who were not factory workers and were
not particularly wedded to life in the homeland were off to their
colonies, gathering up natives in Asia and Africa and many other
places and enslaving them. The countries that were occupied
were turned into exporters of raw material — the intentionally
undiversified economy insurance against people rising up and
pushing the foreigners out. Without the French or German or
British or Dutch to buy the goods, the starvation of millions was
almost a certainty.
Europe is slowly waking up to the fact that the age of abundance is ending.
That was then and no one in our impatient present is bothered

much with ‘then’. In the now, French factories have already
begun to go dark. Very recently, the New York Times presented
the story of Arc — an old maker of glassware that is now finding
it difficult to pay for power to run its facility because of the
insanely high prices for electricity. Ironically, Arc makes items
that are the very emblem of French ‘civilisation’. It makes crystal
glassware, the wine glasses and champagne flutes that grace the
snobbish French dinner tables where gastronomy is an art
because abundance has been the norm. It also manufactures
other tableware and to do all of this it “consumes as much energy
as 200,000 homes”. In the winter of 2022, few would be able to
keep on manufacturing at the same pace.
If the French are finding the power supply meagre, the British
that have been busy with the pompous business of saying
goodbye to their 96-year-old queen and installing a new prime
minister are so ill prepared that people are already beginning to
hoard firewood. Energy bills in the UK are expected to increase
by 80 per cent. This would be the second largest increase in all of
Europe, with the Czech Republic seeing the largest. Much to the
chagrin of Brexiteers, their newly non-EU Britain will see
considerably higher prices than it would have seen and that
average EU countries are seeing.
As Pakistanis know only too well, when the cost of energy
increases, so does the cost of everything else. Like a game of
dominoes, energy costs are passed down by businesses to
consumers. Everyone — from Michelin star-rated restaurants in
London to small businesses across Europe — is already
announcing limited hours or closures because of the energy
crisis. EU countries are already said to be headed for a recession
but the power cuts may be especially hard during the Christmas
season which relies on shops being open and shoppers being out
to make profits.
More crucially, it is impossible not to wonder how all of this will

alter the character of Europe — the self-appointed purveyor of
civilisation and of Enlightenment values. Will the proverbial
darkness transmute into a more serious sort of devolution into
far-right conspiracy-mongering, white supremacist persecution
and an end to liberal democracy?
The outcome is not yet known, but one week ago, the office of the
Mayor of Paris announced that the Eiffel Tower, which currently
stays lit until 1:00 a.m., will go dark about hour earlier. So too
will all the other municipal buildings of Paris, including the
pyramid portion of the Louvre. Long ago, a Western visitor to
Karachi asked me why everything was so dimly lit. I remember
being surprised because to me there were many lights. It is only
later that I understood-that even the brightest shining lights of
Karachi were no match for the wattage, the perpetually lit
avenues and streets of Europe. This winter, that is about to
change.

philosophy.

Populism vs the establishment
dawn.com/news/1711231/populism-vs-the-establishment
September 21, 2022
TALKING to the media outside the Islamabad High Court recently,

Imran Khan said he would get more dangerous. He has lived up
to his words, turning himself into a nightmare for his erstwhile
patrons. The former prime minister has challenged the security
establishment in way not done before. Matters have gone beyond
the bitterness of being dumped.
Khan has now taken the battle to the citadel. His latest public
speech has put to rest all speculations about a possible
reconciliation. The security establishment now finds itself pitted
against a powerful populist force and a cult that it once itself
propelled. A lethal mix of popular support and Khan’s
imperiousness has indeed made the PTI chief extremely
dangerous. The project has gone wrong and diminished the
establishment’s role as the final arbiter of power.
Moreover, a breakdown of democracy may mark the unravelling

of the existing political order. A weak political set-up cannot
withstand this worsening crisis of state. Like other populist
leaders, Khan has successfully built a narrative that political
elites are corrupt and that the people need better representation,
but has made very few policy commitments beyond this
criticism. He has managed to cover up the misgovernance of his
four years in power with his populist rhetoric for change.
Khan has cleverly exploited the increasing public distrust of

political parties and politicians, especially given the various
corruption scandals involving the top leadership. The failure of
other mainstream political parties to meet public concerns and
respond with distinct policies has also contributed to the public’s
alienation. The public sees most political parties as family
enterprises only serving the interests of their members.
The hybrid experiment has come back to haunt the establishment.
Indeed, the military establishment too had a role in building this

perception against politicians and projecting Khan as an
alternative. A hybrid arrangement tried to prop up a weak
coalition. But all efforts failed to provide political stability, and
instead, caused the weakening of the democratic political process
in the country.
Now the experiment has come back to haunt the establishment.

The unpredictable cricketer-turned-politician could not be
controlled. The Khan government fell, with the establishment
withdrawing its support. It’s not surprising to hear that many
establishment assets used in the past to project Khan’s ‘messiah’
image have now turned against their former masters with the
institution changing tack. It’s an old game that has been played
many times in our political history. But no lesson has ever been
learnt.
With his charisma and mass support, Khan has proved to be a

deadlier adversary after being driven out of power. He has not
only targeted the new incumbents but has also taken the military
leadership head on, accusing it of being part of the so-called
foreign conspiracy aimed at regime change. He has weaponised
ultra-nationalist rhetoric, mixing it with religion.
Like other populist leaders, he has managed to mobilise support

across the board — from the educated urban population to the
lower middle class and conservative religious elements. He is in a
unique political position; while being in opposition, his party
controls power in the country’s most powerful province, Punjab,
and also in KP. That gives him the kind of advantage which no
ousted leader had before. It is a unique phenomenon in
Pakistan’s political history.
Most worrisome is that he has discredited formal institutions

thus undermining the democratic process. Like other populist
leaders, he has an authoritarian mindset that wants to see all
state institutions subservient to his whims. His so-called anti-
establishment rhetoric is also driven by his desire to control the
institution.
It is apparent that Imran Khan doesn’t want the security

establishment out of politics but to intervene in his support. His
opposition to the current government appointing the new army
chief shows a desire for a ‘loyal’ military chief — not taking any
lesson from history that a military chief serves only the
institutional interest. By making the appointment of army chief
issue controversial, Khan has made his own position weaker.
By upping the ante, Khan sought to bring the establishment

under pressure but it doesn’t seem to be happening.
Notwithstanding its diminishing power, the establishment is still
strong enough to undermine Khan’s bid to return to power. In
fact, his recklessness has caused the establishment to close ranks.
In the appointment of a new chief, any campaign to make the
process controversial is taken very seriously by the
establishment.
There is a tangible sense of frustration in Khan’s tenor, with no

indication yet of the government conceding to his demand for
early elections. His worries seem to have increased with the
sword of disqualification dangling over him in the contempt
case. The Islamabad High Court is set to formally charge him in
the case. Things could turn more serious with no indication yet of
Khan extending an unqualified apology.
Khan has threatened to march on Islamabad early next month to

force the government to call elections. He also wants the
appointment of the army chief deferred till the new government
is formed after elections. It’s an unprecedented demand that has
no constitutional provision. He has also indicated that he may
agree to extending Gen Bajwa’s term. Such contradictory
statements show a confused mind.
There must not be any talk about an extension for the army
chief. Dragging the military deeper into politics is damaging not
only to the country but also the institution. The ongoing crisis has
brought to the surface the fault lines inherent in our system. The
establishment’s involvement in the power game and political
manipulation has cost the country hugely. What’s happening now
is also the result of the game the establishment has been playing.
There is certainly no winner in this game of thrones, with no

viable political recourse available. It’s questionable whether even
fresh elections in this highly volatile and polarised atmosphere
can bring stability. The country is moving towards complete
anarchy with the erosion of authority of most state institutions. A
meaningful dialogue among political forces is the only way out of
the situation. The perception that democracy has failed only
helps the forces of authoritarianism.

Deprived of education
dawn.com/news/1711059/deprived-of-education
September 20, 2022
THE fact that Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers continue to disallow

girls from attending secondary school indicates that the hard-line
outfit remains wedded to its regressive worldview, despite
promises of change. When the Taliban swept back to power just
over a year ago, there were valid concerns that the group would
again crack down on women’s rights. These fears were not
unfounded: while younger girls have been allowed to attend
school, the older ones have been stopped from attending high
school. The UN has termed the ban “tragic and shameful” and its
secretary general has deplored the “year of lost knowledge and
opportunity” for the girls. According to UN figures, over a million
girls have been affected by the Taliban’s short-sighted decision.
Afghanistan’s de facto rulers have claimed the ban is

“temporary”, while adding that they need time to remodel the
curriculum according to “Islamic lines”. Moreover, the regime’s
education minister has termed it a “cultural issue”, saying that
many rural Afghans don’t want their teenage daughters to go to
school. These excuses are mostly without merit. From a human
rights, as well as a religious and cultural, perspective, the
Taliban’s ban on girls’ education is indefensible. If the Taliban
claim religious sanction for stopping older girls from learning,
they must be asked why Saudi Arabia and Iran — states run by
religious law — allow girls to attend high school. Moreover, while
much of the Afghan population is conservative, the Taliban
appear to be foisting their own vision upon the people. It is hard
to believe that culturally appropriate educational institutions
cannot be set up to allow Afghan schoolgirls to continue their
education. What is missing is the Taliban’s intention to educate
girls. Furthermore, the high school ban makes no sense when
women can attend universities, albeit with restrictions. Instead
of coming up with lame excuses, Afghanistan’s rulers need to
speedily open girls’ high schools, while Muslim states
particularly should put pressure on the regime to do away with
this archaic ban.
Opinion
Cluster approach - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1711060/cluster-approach
September 20, 2022
HINDSIGHT, they say, is usually 20/20. But in the case of the flood
disaster, the lessons of 2010 have not been learnt. Nowhere is
this more evident than in the UN’s response: both the appeal and
allocations made so far do not come close to the amount pledged
and released to Islamabad in the aftermath of the 2010 floods.
Although a flash appeal has generated $150m, the UN’s Central
Emergency Response Fund had only released $7m as of the first
week of September. Compared to this, CERF allocations for
various interventions in Pakistan in 2010 totalled nearly $52m.
This included funding for WASH projects, emergency shelter,
food security, education, etc. While most of the UN system is still
intact today, dozens of other agencies that supplemented the
global body’s efforts have moved on from Pakistan.
The ‘cluster approach’, which involved various agencies working

in the same sector coordinating their response for better
allocation of resources, has also been absent. For example, a
typical cluster meeting on shelter would include representatives
from UN-Habitat, International Organisation for Migration,
UNHCR, WFP, Unicef and other organisations with staff on the
ground constantly feeding information to their teams in
Islamabad. This means that facts being shared with decision-
makers would enable the latter to determine where and how best
to utilise the funds. Currently, UN-OCHA and the resident
coordinator’s office are working as a sort of secretariat to fill this
role. But while such joint working groups keep in close contact
with the relevant government bodies, a centralised system
cannot reflect victims’ needs without input from those working
on the ground. Regrettably, the previous PML-N government
refused permission to scores of INGOs to operate here. While
there may have been legitimate security concerns, the fact is that
today, the number of humanitarian agencies that helped in the
2010 effort stands halved. Then there are concerns about
transparency; in 2010, international donors were concerned
about whether their funds were being utilised properly. The
concern remains today. The UN, and by extension the aid sector,
must shift into high gear. Relief work is drawing to a close and
the transition to rehabilitation and reconstruction must be swift
and seamless. That cannot be accomplished unless needs
assessments are completed and verified lists of potential
beneficiaries prepared. This will be an extensive process, during
which those displaced will be forced to live with relatives, in
camps or other improvised dwellings. It is time to rebuild the
right way.
Opinion
Sharifs’ silence - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1711061/sharifs-silence
September 20, 2022
WITH the political environment in Pakistan fraught with

uncertainty, the benign press statement from London has done
little to ease the pressures gradually building up in Islamabad.
Nothing new or of substance has been shared with the public
since the prime minister met his older brother, PML-N ‘supreme
leader’ Nawaz Sharif, for what was reportedly a ‘family only’
discussion. If the reports are accurate, even the PML-N federal
ministers present in the city were not invited. We do know that
important business was discussed, particularly the fate of the
Punjab government — where the Sharifs seem to once again
want to instal their scion, Hamza Shehbaz, as chief minister —
and the timing of the next general elections — which, they
decided, will be held according to the official schedule. However,
instead of offering any insight into what is going on in their
minds, or providing assurances that matters are under control,
the Sharif brothers left even old questions unanswered.
For example, if the government is indeed intent on limping to the

next general elections, to be held in the latter part of next year
according to the official schedule, what is its strategy? How does
it plan to steady the listing economy in the months it has when
the man who should be leading that task has been tied down by
his own party? Is he to be replaced, and by whom? If not, will he
be allowed to do his job without worrying about fulminations
from the Nawaz camp? Every day that passes in stasis inflicts
further damage on the economy. Likewise, how does bringing
Hamza Shehbaz back as Punjab chief minister help the
instability? Will it not cause further chaos? What is it apart from
another attempt by the PML-N to wrest back lost clout in the
constituencies that have traditionally brought it to power? Most
importantly, how do the government and the PML-N plan to
counter the resurgent Imran Khan, who has made it clear that he
is not going to rest unless he is shown a path back to power? Will
they, as some have threatened, unleash Interior Minister Rana
Sanuallah to keep the PTI in check? How will they deal with the
blowback if the party pushes back and the law-enforcement
agencies once again go overboard in their response?
It is clear that the Sharifs want to hold their cards very close to
their chest. Such is the distrust prevalent in the party — split into
camps as it is — that even the prime minister’s cabinet is being
kept in the dark. This is hardly assuring. It is alarming that the
government, while seeming intent on completing its tenure, has
no clear plans for the future to share. With its own silence
exacerbating the evaporation of faith in the government, the
PML-N is taking a strange path indeed.
Read more
Comments (1)
500 characters
COMMENT MOD POLICY

Denali
Sep 20, 2022 08:01am
It is not untestable why a convicted person who is also an

absconder should have any say in the affairs of Pakistan. Nawaz's
brother is not far behind - being out on bail. These family
meetings behind closed doors are now setting up a plan for the
future of Pakistan. This is totally unacceptable.
Reply Recommend 0
Opinion
Students’ well-being
dawn.com/news/1711062/students-well-being
September 20, 2022
POST-PANDEMIC times have seen a rise in the need to focus on

student well-being if we are to close learning gaps resulting from
the long period of school closures. Many children have suffered
loss and grief within their families and communities. Teaching
emotional self-regulation and well-being as part of the
curriculum helps students focus on self-management, no matter
which pathway or subject specialisation they choose.
Some schools have taken steps in this direction, as part of their

global skills agenda. From regular exercise in the morning to
mindfulness and meditation, many programmes have been
initiated. Yet, none of these can be described as a system
established to work towards emotional well-being on a
sustainable basis. Well-being initiatives will have to be
intertwined with the subject content, if they are to be useful and
inculcated as lifelong skills in students.
From self-regulation of emotions to managing stress and

loneliness, resolving conflict and standing up to bullying, a well-
crafted curriculum and thoughtful classroom approaches can
bring about positive and sustainable change. In classrooms that
support emotional well-being, students are given opportunities to
talk about themselves. They learn that their experiences are
valued, and that they are seen and heard in their learning
environment.
Much of this has to do with linking learning to daily life

experiences, where texts taught are used as springboards to
engage students in thinking about their own lives, and to support
them in finding a voice. This can also be done through presenting
hypothetical situations that motivate them to think critically and
use a problem-solving approach to brainstorm in groups. The
idea is to provide opportunities for collaboration and self-
expression consistently and in a structured way. Such strategies
help draw out students who appear shy and withdrawn, and are
essentially hesitant to share their views, often glaring at others
and masquerading as difficult learners. Many of them may be
using shyness as a coping mechanism to mask fear, anger or
grief.
Schoolchildren must know their experiences are valued.
Aggressive behaviour in class is often the flip side of the same

coin — a coping device for lack of better tools to manage heavy
emotions. Students are unable to reach out for help — often the
necessary channels such as school counsellors are not available,
neither are digital tools which can enable them to read up on
their own and find ways to help themselves. Not every student is
lucky enough to get help from parents. Schools can provide a
nurturing and empowering environment to those who do not
have access to it within the family set-up.
Many seemingly disciplined students are running on a band-aid

that protects them from revealing their difficulties to the world
around them. Traditionally, as a culture, we have valued
discipline over self-expression and, unfortunately, our
curriculum has prioritised learning over self-care. Luckily, the
pandemic has opened up digital lines of communication between
the teachers and learners; we now have more schools willing to
showcase their work on social media, and allow access to
teachers and staff through WhatsApp, resulting in a collapse of
traditional barriers so that the child is better supported through
teamwork between the school management, teachers and
parents.
The pandemic has also opened up a window of awareness for

previously shelved necessities such as a research-backed
curriculum that teaches social and emotional skills as part of the
subject content. A few minutes of ‘looking out for each other’ —
words of kindness, checking in with a positive greeting, team
games in class and teaching a vocabulary for emotional
expression can foster a culture of calmness and positivity.
Social and emotional learning is directly correlated to the

improvement of relationships across the school community,
resulting in increased motivation and better academic
performance. Conversely, students whose emotional and social
well-being is at stake, may slide into disengagement,
demotivation and low grades. The spiral is hard to beat. One
student described himself as a ‘hamster on a wheel’. Most
students in that kind of trap will need a bailout and usually it
comes in the form of tutors who can help them get their grades
up, but not necessarily develop the emotional skills required for
self-discipline.
Schools that can bridge the gap between learning and emotional
self-regulation and social skills can boast a school community
with a progressive ethos, a spirit of growth, accomplishment and
community. Emotional and social well-being can bring about
positive connections between students, help them make
responsible decisions and set realistic goals for themselves and
contribute constructively to the learning of others.
The writer is senior manager, professional development, at Oxford

University Press Pakistan and a Fellow of the Higher Education
Academy, UK.
neda.mulji@gmail.com
Twitter: @nedamulji

Our popular leaders
dawn.com/news/1711063/our-popular-leaders
September 20, 2022
POPULAR leaders with non-elite roots, pro-poor agendas and

origins in institutionalised grassroots political movements often
deliver equitable and democratic progress. Non-elite roots
obviously aid such agendas while a rise through strong
movements keeps their politics democratic and non-
personalised. We haven’t had such progress as our many popular
leaders haven’t met these criteria well.
With an elite background, many independence leaders lacked a

pro-poor or even a clear policy agenda. The Muslim League was
less grassroots and institutionalised than Congress where Gandhi
and Nehru, though elites, had a pro-poor agenda which was used
after 1947 but produced mixed results. The Muslim League fell to
bureaucratic intrigue. We had no popular leader till Mujibur
Rehman and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto rose in the 1960s.
Mujib rose through student and Bengali politics. He perforce

pursued identity politics given Bengali complaints but had a
socialist agenda too which he applied briefly — with poor results
— after 1971. My fellow Berkeley alumnus and childhood hero
Bhutto was socialist too but part of the elite. Skipping
institutionalised politics, he rose laterally via army aid and then
by forming the PPP. That even socialist leaders from the two
wings had such varied roots and routes was due to greater
hierarchy and elite hold in the West wing society. His socialism
looks passé now but was cutting edge for poor states at that time.
It gave us mixed results because of weak policies and autocracy.
But growth was still 4.5 per cent despite global stagflation, US aid
cuts and loss of the eastern ‘colony’.
The next generation rose in the 1980s. Benazir like Bhutto and
Nawaz Sharif belonged to the elite who didn’t rise through
grassroots politics. She largely nixed Bhutto’s pro-poor agenda.
Nawaz and Altaf Hussain were the first popular Punjabi and
Mohajir leaders to rise, four decades after 1947. So strong was
the hold of these two ethnic groups in state and business, and so
weak the earlier political eras, that neither needed popular
leaders; those rising were only in ethnicities seen to be weaker.
But once democracy prevailed, both perforce hastily produced
them. Altaf was non-elite, came via student politics and did
violent ethnic but not pro-poor politics. Nawaz initially did soft
ethnic, pro-elite, pro-Pindi politics but mellowed later. Yet even
now he is not pro-poor.
Only Bhutto had a clear, but weakly run, pro-poor agenda.
Imran Khan too is from the elite who rose not via grassroots
politics but Pindi’s aid. He uses a toxic mix of socially regressive,
politically autocratic and opportunistic, anti-West, cultist
populism — likely our worst politics after Altaf and extremist
parties. He is untested in fair general polls yet.
Some popular pro-poor ethnic leaders never ruled, such as Bacha

Khan, G.M. Syed and Bizenjo. Ayesha Jalal called Jinnah the sole
spokesperson for Muslims. Some later became ethnic sole
spokespersons — eg, Bacha Khan for Pakhtuns, Altaf for Mohajirs
— despite mainly being national leaders. Except for Bhutto,
others or their progeny lost this status later, among Bengalis,
Baloch and Pakhtuns, due to unwise acts. Arguably, Kashmiris,
the Baloch, Seraiki- and Hindko-speaking people, and those from
Gilgit-Baltistan haven’t had such sole spokespersons yet.
Popular national rulers (eg, Liaquat, Bhutto, Benazir, Nawaz and

Imran) were members of the elite who didn’t rise via grassroots
politics. But most faced some struggles in opposition. Only Bhutto
had a clear, but weakly run, pro-poor agenda. So a popular
national leader meeting all criteria is yet to rise. We have many
electorally tiny left parties with leaders meeting all the criteria
but they barely link with each other, let alone unite. Thus a
strong sole spokesperson, leader or party for new left politics is
yet to rise. This can be attributed to the establishment’s aid to
elite leaders and the assault on left parties, labour and peasant
groups. In fact, a sole spokesperson for extreme politics, perhaps
from the TLP, may predate a left one.
Globally, too, we see few such leaders. Lenin was one. His agenda
made ex-USSR a superpower which opposed the West’s imperial
diktat. Misrule and US intrigue later sank it. Mao’s China did
worse. Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia had social gains but misrule
too. Leftist regimes opposing the West’s diktat have lost access to
high capital and technology. States co-opted in capitalist value
chains, such as China, get access and do much better. But few are
so invited and then only if they accept the West’s diktat that
keeps most states poor. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s Brazil used
both policies well; we failed on both. Only strong globalist pro-
poor activism in the West can resolve this bind.
The writer is a political economist with a PhD from the University

of California, Berkeley.
murtazaniaz@yahoo.com
Twitter: @NiazMurtaza2

A sense of history would help
dawn.com/news/1711064/a-sense-of-history-would-help
September 20, 2022
INDIA’S fabled constitution is struggling with a very Indian flaw.

It has too many filters to stop it from choking. The preamble
promises a secular socialist democracy. Many are openly hostile
to secularism. Others see socialism as an imposition. And still
others, given half a chance, would do away with democracy
itself. The filters can’t be changed and shouldn’t be removed.
They need to be cleaned and revitalised for democracy to be a
humane contract. Currently, the opposition is struggling to abide
by the promise the federation and its key tenets demand.
Many of my friends have stopped liking Arvind Kejriwal, calling

him a BJP agent with roots in the RSS. I had a militant friend, a
leftist student leader from JNU, who came from the RSS fold.
There are staunchly secular intellectuals that once belonged to
the RSS. They make better Marxists than the born-in-the-family
ones. Whether Kejriwal reveals himself as a pious Hindu is of no
importance for the task at hand, which is to take the lowest
common denominator on a frayed opposition platform.
Whatever be Kejriwal’s other lapses, he stalled the Narendra

Modi juggernaut spectacularly in 2015 and continues to hold his
ground. He has not killed Muslims or Christians or Sikhs to the
best of one’s knowledge. He says he believes in Lord Hanuman
and has gone to temples to display his Hindu-ness. Look again,
what was the left doing in West Bengal with the annual Durga
pujas? In Kerala, communist cadres are members of temple
committees. Don’t be surprised if comrades there are taking out a
procession of Lord Ganapati and the back of the decorated
vehicle carrying the idol flaunts a beaming picture of Che
Guevara. Let’s accept the fact that India is the way it is, a country
steeped in religion. The Mughals mostly tried not to tinker with
the beliefs, as also the British. Rationalism is desirable but
where’s the fertile ground, educationally and in societal terms?
Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party had a manifesto in recent polls

much of which Nehru would be proud of. It may have an iffy
interpretation of secularism but it doesn’t call secularism
‘sickularism’ à la Hindutva. Count the blessing. AAP, despite my
many friends’ misgivings, says it is still firmly tethered to the
constitution, and it emphatically warns against the politics of
hate in various manifestos. One doubts it would have won
Punjab without being secular. What more could one want in
these desperate times?
On the other hand, we have normalised, not without a

compelling reason again, the so-called secular alliance with the
Shiv Sena even if it has Muslim blood on its hands. The Shiv
Sena-Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance was recently
upended in Maharashtra by the BJP with mass defections of
MLAs, a familiar ploy these days. Why must we miss his
government? When Thackeray was installed as chief minister
there was hope for freeing a few of India’s best intellectuals
languishing in prison as Maoist suspects. The Modi government
overnight transferred the cases to federal investigators. True,
Shiv Sena owned up to its role in the demolition of the Babri
Masjid when towering BJP leaders pleaded innocence. Is Kejriwal
worse than Thackeray as an opposition ally?
Contradictions abound. Rahul Gandhi has embarked on a long

overdue move to unite India by walking through the lanes and
streets of its many states. While his own party waged the most
deadly assault on the promise of socialism, Gandhi is in bad
odour with the corporate media for calling out crony capitalism
and its beneficiaries.
The trouble ahead for Rahul will be that he has so far been
applauded in the friendlier states. Tamil Nadu was where his
walk began on Sept 7. Kerala has come out on the streets as
seldom before to support his quest. A truer test will come when
he crosses into BJP-ruled Karnataka and other Hindutva-hugging
states. Rahul Gandhi is taking a huge personal risk in the
footsteps of early freedom fighters. They faced a ruthless ruler on
their day as he does on his. It is a necessary risk, but one that
hopefully would help cleanse the choked filters of democracy
and bring the opposition together. There’s reason to worry about
the outcome, however.
Of the important leaders whose help is required to forge a strong

opposition unity, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is
not an easy person to figure out. She has been close to Sonia
Gandhi on occasion and on others an angry rival spitting fire at
the Congress. Credible efforts must bring her on board, both for
her intrinsic value as a singularly firebrand leader, and for the
tremendous optics she brings with her strong presence.
By most accounts, Bihar is the best bet for the opposition team
assuming the recently forged alliance between Chief Minister
Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav’s party holds out. Opposition
parties are not wrong in seeing the Congress as the weakest link
in the emerging structure. While it has an impressive presence
across India, Congress is the most vulnerable party for poachers.
Perhaps the departure of (corporate-financed?) MLAs in several
states to the BJP was a required purgative to cleanse the party.
Time will tell.
An elephant in the room remains less discussed. Key opposition

leaders have overt or covert links with the more right-wing
leaning businesses. Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal may be
exceptions. They need to work together but are not allowed to by
their circumstances. Corporate-owned NDTV spent an unusual
hour on interviewing Kejriwal, a critic of cronyism but who
spent the time scoffing at Rahul Gandhi’s walk. Kejriwal is rightly
proud of his education policy for Delhi, which is actually
enviable. However, Nazi Germany had free education for
schools, and it was quality education too. A sense of history,
therefore, would be as rewarding for Kejriwal as his education
and healthcare policies are.

Authoritarianism & democracy
dawn.com/news/1711066/authoritarianism-democracy
September 20, 2022
RECENTLY, Salahuddin Ahmed, a well-known legal eagle of

Pakistan, tweeted about feeling gloomy. And he wasn’t referring
to inflation or the floods. His concern was the state of democracy
in our nook. He wrote that if GHQ and the government succeeded
in beating down Imran Khan, it would mean normalising the
omnipotence of the establishment. And added that if Khan won,
it may usher in one-party rule. Both options, he felt, were not all
that hopeful.
In the age of social media, where Twitter is the preferred haunt

and skimming through tweets an hourly diet, this was a tweet
hard to forget. Indeed, the responses he got means others found
it provocative too.
But I wonder if there is any other alternative to the
establishment-dominated system except for a single-party one.
Not because of the worldwide trend of weakening democratic
trends and the rise of populists but because of what is happening
in our own neighbourhood. Both India and Bangladesh, it seems,
are en route to becoming single-party states, though of course in
their own ways.
In India, the BJP seems to be growing from strength to strength.

Five years after its 2014 win, when it was deemed to not have
managed the economy very well, it succeeded in improving its
electoral performance in the next election. This was not simply
about the number of seats but also winning in states not seen as
its traditional strongholds.
Is there any other alternative to the establishment-dominated system except for
a single-party one?
In Bangladesh, on the other hand, Hasina Wajid of the Awami

League has been the prime minister since 2009; the party’s main
rival, the BNP, led by Khaleda Zia who was imprisoned on
corruption charges, seems to be in no position to return to
power. A BBC article from 2021 began with the following lines:
“Bangladesh is held up by many as a model of development, but
as it marks 50 years of independence critics say it risks becoming
a one-party state intolerant of dissent, threatening the
democratic principles on which it was founded.”
Obviously, the details provide many differences. In India, even

the earlier domination of the Congress could be seen as a single-
party system. However, this was soon challenged by the rise of
regional forces, and even now, regional parties remain strong.
However, few would deny that at the national level, the BJP’s
primacy appears uncontested as the Congress has not managed
to improve its electoral performance.
Free speech and a free press are under attack in the entire
region. Arrests and harassment of activists and journalists is
perhaps common to all three countries. The more democratic
dispensations in India and Bangladesh (compared to Pakistan)
have not led to more democratic structures such as freedom of
speech.
As in Pakistan, India too is home to multiple news channels and

newspapers but these are now mostly owned and controlled by a
business elite closely aligned to the ruling party; legacy media
appears to be a thing of the past. And this change in ownership is
said to have led to relative acquiescence.
In Bangladesh, too, press freedom has been under attack. But

unlike Pakistan, both India and Bangladesh are doing well
economically, going from strength to strength.
It does lead to many questions. What is causing this drift towards

authoritarianism in the three countries? Is it simply the global
trend of strong leaders which is at work in our part of the world?
Or is it due to the structure of our state which retains many of
the laws and frameworks put in place by the colonial authorities?
The sedition law is simply one example. Put in place by the
British, it is still being used in India and Pakistan. Even the
manner in which all three states try to control the noise on social
media is all too familiar.
Perhaps Pakistan differs from the other two only in terms of the
many parties not just competing in elections but also the lack of
clarity in terms of who may win nationally. And this to a certain
degree is due to the establishment. The interference in recent
years led, to some extent, to the rise of the PTI and its eventual
victory in 2018. In the absence of this, the PML-N may as well
have won and formed its second consecutive government. One
can only conjecture if this would have led to the beginning of
one-party domination or not. By now, no one is sure of how well
the PML-N will be able to do, come next election.
On the other hand, the PTI, thanks to its ouster, is gaining

popularity and there are concerns, as voiced by Salahuddin
Ahmed, that its return to power would mean a faster journey to
single-party domination. Of course, this is based on the
assumption that the PTI is able to return to power against the
wishes of the establishment; if the assumption about the
establishment’s views is correct, it would be no mean feat and
may signal a change in the civil-military balance in Pakistani
politics. After all, to date no party has been able to win elections
without the support or at least the silence of the powers that be.
However, what else does it imply? That if Pakistan still enjoys a

multiparty dispensation, this is dependent on the uneven civil-
military balance continuing? Though of course it needs to be
pointed out that the present multiparty system does not deliver
any better on democratic credentials, such as media freedom or
civil liberties.
Perhaps while we dwell on these questions, we could also focus

on what has allowed India and Bangladesh to do better
economically. Despite its history of military interventions and
polarised politics between two parties, Bangladesh has managed
to ensure sustainable economic growth. Did the sustainable
economic growth and its consolidation pave the way for single-
party domination, or did the former lead to authoritarian
political stability? Or are the two not linked to each other? There
is no end to the questions.

Solar debate - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1710872/solar-debate
September 19, 2022
A NEWS report on notices received by citizens living in Karachi’s

Defence Housing Authority over the installation of solar panels
on their rooftops has once again brought into focus the
sometimes fraught relationship between the area’s residents and
its administration. According to the report, the DHA has notified
and imposed financial penalties on some residents after it
deemed their installation of solar panels a “violation” of its
building control regulations. The notices have apparently been
served mainly on houses where steel structures were installed to
elevate solar panels. The move has invited the ire of those
affected, who seem not to have been aware that they may have
been committing a violation when they were doing the
installation. Some have bitterly complained that the authority’s
recent ‘awakening’ to the installation of solar panels is just to
force residents to cough up hundreds of thousands of rupees
more in fees and charges.
The DHA’s response is that the ‘proper process’ for solar

installation ensures safety and uniformity in construction. “We
can’t let everyone do as they please [...] There needs to be some
sort of symmetry, too,” a spokesperson for the authority told this
paper. That may be valid, but the DHA should perhaps consider
its own failures in providing residents the high standards of
living it aspires to — the recent flooding of residential areas
being a case in point — before demonstrating so much rigidity.
Penalising people, in some cases years after installation has been
done, is unreasonable and will cause distress. Instead of making
things difficult for residents, perhaps the authority should
consider issuing a set of guidelines for solar installation and
impose penalties only in cases where there has been a violation
or where a demonstrable safety hazard may have been created.
The authority must not use its considerable powers to strong-arm
citizens, as it has in the past. Otherwise law-abiding citizens
should not be subject to the whims of an administration whose
own actions have not been beyond reproach.
Opinion
The youngest victims
dawn.com/news/1710873/the-youngest-victims
September 19, 2022
FOR millions of children in Pakistan, life is going to be

particularly precarious in the coming months, with
consequences that will last well into the future — at least for
those of them that manage to make it to adulthood.
As the aftermath of the cataclysmic floods continues to unfold,

and disease and malnutrition set in, the youngest Pakistanis are
the most at risk. Of the nearly 1,500 fatalities so far from flood-
related causes, around 530 are children.
According to Unicef, an estimated 16m children are among the

flood-affected population, with at least 3.4m of them in need of
immediate, lifesaving support.
Following a two-day visit to the inundated areas of Sindh, the

Unicef representative in Pakistan said that malnourished boys
and girls were battling diarrhoea, dengue fever and painful skin
diseases as a direct result of the catastrophe.
Disasters tend to discriminate along generational (and gender)

lines. Even in a country like the US, research indicates that
within a month of a natural disaster, young children manifested
a 9pc to 18pc increase in acute illnesses, including diarrhoea,
fever and respiratory ailments. Somatic symptoms — headaches,
nausea, lethargy — also manifested a higher incidence. Then
there is the psychological fallout.
Read: Floods double protection risks for women and children

Routine gives children a sense of security, and youngsters who
have seen their lives upended overnight by a cataclysmic event,
with no end in sight to the disruption, are at enormous risk for
post-traumatic stress disorder.
The super flood compounds the tragedy of an unconscionably

inequitable society where vast numbers of children already
contend with profound disadvantages from birth.
Consider that malnutrition leaves 38pc of under-fives in the

country stunted, one of the highest prevalence rates in the world
— a situation the Unicef has described as a “rising emergency”
for Pakistan. It dooms millions of them to a future in which they
will never achieve their full potential.
Moreover, although infant and under-five mortality rates have

been falling steadily in recent years, there is clear disparity
between rural and urban areas, with the latter showing more of
a decline because of access to better health facilities.
Given the floods have impacted rural areas the most severely,
even those gains may be reversed — at least to some extent.
Increasing poverty is also likely to lead to a rise in child
marriage, with all its deleterious effects on girls’ mental and
physical health.
Going forward, Pakistan’s children must be at the heart of the

rehabilitation effort.

Sectarian concerns
dawn.com/news/1710874/sectarian-concerns
September 19, 2022
A RECENTLY released study by the Brussels-based International

Crisis Group has raised some pertinent but disturbing questions
about the state of sectarian militancy in Pakistan. In particular, A
New Era of Sectarian Violence in Pakistan underscores the
troubling prospect of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi cadres, largely dormant
at the moment, playing an active role in the malignant activities
of the Islamic State-Khorasan chapter, as the local Daesh affiliate
is called. Separately, it also examines the role of the Tehreek-i-
Labbaik Pakistan in local communal politics and militancy.
Though some conclusions of the think tank’s report are a tad
alarmist, certain aspects send up instant red flags — which the
state would be foolish to ignore.
The foremost point that the state, particularly the security

establishment, should consider is the budding alliance between
LJ fighters and IS-K. Quoting officials, the ICG document says that
LJ terrorists have mostly been absorbed by the Tehreek-i-Taliban
Pakistan and IS-K. What is especially alarming is the report’s
contention that IS-K has struck roots in KP, Balochistan as well as
parts of Punjab. For example, it says that LJ foot soldiers working
as “hired guns” for IS-K in KP “number in the hundreds”. To put
things in perspective, LJ is one of Pakistan’s deadliest sectarian
terrorist groups. It is responsible for a long list of bloody anti-
Shia purges. While the LJ leadership may well be “decimated”, as
the report rightly points out, its political supporters, in the shape
of the Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan/ Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat are very
much active. And if the LJ fighters combine their considerable
local knowledge with the Islamic State group’s ‘expertise’ in
waging transnational sectarian war, the results for Pakistan’s
internal security could be tragic. As for the observations
regarding the TLP, it is evident that the latter has managed to
weaponise blasphemy and sectarianise the political discourse,
which bodes ill for communal peace in the country.
And yet, despite the presence of these malign actors, Pakistan is

not in the throes of a communal conflict pitting Shia citizens
against their Sunni counterparts. Moreover, claims in the ICG
report that mothers tell their children to hide their Shia identity,
or people refrain from giving their full names for fear of
revealing their confessional status, may be true in rare instances,
but are not the norm. And, notwithstanding the existence of
sectarian death squads that go back at least four decades,
Pakistan has thankfully been spared the ugly communal violence
witnessed in Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. But, if new threats are
allowed to thrive, such as an active LJ-IS-K partnership, a return
to violence is very possible. In this respect, there can be little
argument with the ICG report’s concluding observation that the
federal and provincial governments, political parties, the
judiciary as well as the military will all “have to play a part in
addressing the conditions in which sectarian militants thrive”.

Soft panhandling - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1710875/soft-panhandling
September 19, 2022
TO aspire to soft power without economic strength is not even a

pie-in-the-sky scheme, it’s pieing oneself. From Chi to Qingqi to
kimchi — can anyone name any trend, any fad that emanates
from a country known only for its scenic beauty and hospitable
people, and not for the strength of its economy?
The recently concluded Asia Cup was filled mostly with aspirants
to ‘soft power’; ie, countries marred by poor governance,
horrible policy choices, and economies in tatters, trying to make
up for all of this by manifesting soft power through sporting
prowess. One wonders what all the brouhaha was about.
For all one can imagine, the championship could have been
named ‘David’s Cup’ instead, as it was a glaring example of a
handful of Davids shooting slingshots at myriad Goliaths. As the
championship drew closer to the final rounds, a country marred
by more than three decades of wars of all kinds and no economy
whatsoever, bowed out to its greatest frenemy whose economy
has perennially teetered on the brink of collapse. A country that
for all practical purposes is bankrupt but for the official
declaration of it. This team played the nail-biting final with a
team whose country, unfortunately, has officially gone bankrupt.
Who among all the aspirants in this tournament do you think is

best placed to project its soft power? The unpalatable answer —
to some — is the Goliath whose team ironically crashed out with
fanfare — yes, you guessed it — at the hands of a succession of
Davids. However, it is Indian movies that will continue to make
their way into TV lounges, if not cinemas; it is songs from these
movies whose beat enlivens mehndis while uncles in yellow
scarves ogle at women trying to get some much-earned
downtime, all the while planning to raise a flag at the Red Fort.
Nobody visits the country ruled by the Kims, while K-pop is all the rage.
One bankrupt country can gloat at beating another at a sporting

event, but it is NRIs who continue to outnumber most
nationalities at the top of the corporate world; it is Indian writers
whose books make it to the best-selling lists, who regularly get
shortlisted and occasionally win publishing prizes like the
Booker and Man Booker. Why, you may ask? Because they have
more than $500 billion in their kitty whereas aspirants to soft
power coax all of $1.8bn from an IFI.
The disgrace we’ve brought upon ourselves in pursuit of
fluttering flags over foreign forts doubles when we realise that
there are individuals in the world for whom $2bn is pocket
change. They sell cosmetics and undergarments, while we
pursued a path where individuals appeared on TV confessing to
being ‘distributors’ of sensitive technology to similar aspirants.
Noticed how as soon as the lira took a nosedive, the heroes and
heroines from the Anatolian steppes stopped looking as bold and
beautiful as they did in the not-too-distant past? Other than some
retired basketball players and antiquated rock stars, nobody ever
visits the country ruled by successive Kims, while K-pop is all the
rage across the world. It is South Korea’s economic success that
has endeared the world to Korean dramas, not sabre-rattling. The
soft power juggernaut spurred by Gangnam Style continues to
gather momentum with no signs of slowing down.
We may spend vast amounts of begged and borrowed money on

hiring dubious characters and extending their visas ad nauseam
while they file serious charges against high government
functionaries, and on churning out anthems and serials in self-
aggrandisement; we can even win cricket championships, but
our image will not improve until we change course. No soft
power for those whose leaders travel on non-commercial flights
to desti-nations ranging from shrines to foreign capitals, for
purposes ranging from begging forgiveness for sins to begging
for dollars to keep the economy afloat.
While on the subject, it is difficult not to raise another question.

While one believes in improving relations on all fronts,
especially where regional integration and trade are concerned,
and the importance of cultural ties cannot be stressed enough in
this regard, one must ask how come it is kosher to play cricket
with the ‘arch foe’ but a big no-no when it comes to accepting
lifesaving vaccine at the height of a pandemic like Covid-19?
Onions and tomatoes cannot be bought from across the Wagah
border to feed 30 million plus flood-affected people because it
will ostensibly upset our Kashmiri brethren, but cricket can be
played and boxes of sweets can be exchanged at border posts
between the armed forces of the two countries. Has anyone ever
asked the Kashmiris how they feel about it and whether they
think we compromise on the ‘cause’ by indulging in these
activities?
The writer is a poet. His latest publication is a collection of satire

essays titled Rindana.
shahzadsharjeel1@gmail.com
Read more
Comments (1)
500 characters
COMMENT MOD POLICY
Kabeer
Sep 19, 2022 09:19am
Pakistan doesn't introspect. What is it so proud of?
Reply Recommend 0
State of the youth - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1710876/state-of-the-youth
September 19, 2022
YOUNG Americans are miserable. So says a new study out of

Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science. The study
found that 18- to 25-year-olds reported the lowest well-being, and
that perceptions of well-being increased steadily with age, with
those over 77 expressing most satisfaction, followed closely by
Boomers (aged 58 to 76). Pakistan does not yet have such well-
being data to inform political narratives and policies, but it can
learn much from the misery of young Westerners.
The study’s findings are a first, and are ringing alarm bells about
the socioeconomic (and planetary) breakdown that is leading to
the widespread lack of well-being amongst youngsters, who
should be feeling their best and brightest. The study defined well-
being broadly, including happiness, mental and physical health,
having a purposeful life, the quality of relationships, trying to be
a good person, and financial stability. Across all these
dimensions, the American youth consistently expressed the
lowest sense of well-being.
This is in contrast to similar studies from the 2000s, which

yielded U-shaped results. In those earlier studies, young people
and the elderly would express the highest levels of happiness and
well-being, while those in the middle were the least satisfied.
These results seemed more intuitive — middle-aged people with
children and parents to care for, burgeoning financial
responsibilities, careers to nurture, and mid-life crises to contend
with were expected to feel worse off than the carefree young and
content elderly. The youth had friendships and opportunities to
keep them excited, and the elderly drew comfort from deep
relationships, sanguinity, and gratitude.
But times are tougher, different. In an interview, Tyler

VanderWeele, the director of Harvard’s Human Flourishing
Program and the senior author of the study, tried to unpack the
results. He discussed the severity of America’s mental health
crisis, and increasing evidence of what has been termed a
loneliness epidemic. He pointed to other studies that indicate
that the prolonged use of social media — which is most prevalent
among under-25s — contributes to feelings of alienation,
loneliness and anxiety. Moreover, in the US, young people have
to manage burdensome debt from education, the decline in
secure job prospects, and soaring housing costs, which have left
most Gen Z-ers believing home ownership will forever be out of
reach.
Misery haunts American youth. What about our youngsters?
The state of the world today also presents a rational challenge to
feelings of well-being; from Ukraine to the urgency of the climate
crisis, young people have plenty to worry about without the
benefit of having experienced years of relative stability, which
Gen X-ers (aged 42 to 57) and Boomers have.
Interestingly, VanderWeele blames political polarisation — which

is particularly toxic in the US in the post-Trump era — for further
undermining youth well-being. In his words: “Many people feel:
‘how can I live in a country like this, where half the people are
terrible?’”
The most puzzling finding — that 18- to 25-year-olds believe their

physical health is worse than all the age groups older than them
— is likely due to the survey being conducted in January 2022,
when the world was still emerging from the worst of the Covid-
19 pandemic. VanderWeele believes that young people have a
greater sense of physical threat from the pandemic. Their
expectations of how fit and healthy they should be are probably
high and unrealistic, turbo-charged by a $1.5 trillion wellness
industry, celebrity culture, and fitness-focused TikTok channels.
So what does the misery of young Americans have to do with us?

It is sadly just the tip of the iceberg of what Pakistan’s youth must
contend with. Sixteen million of our nation’s children have been
impacted by recent floods and remain in wait for food and
shelter, their homes and schools washed away. Many will be
permanently displaced, deprived of education and nourishment
vital to succeed later in life, and subject to horrifying
safeguarding risks. They are not the first climate migrants, and
they will not be the last.
The hatred and suspicion of compatriots that produces alienation
among polarised young Americans is compounded for Pakistanis
by sectarianism, ethnolinguistic divisions, hyper-nationalism and
more. And these differences manifest not just as a breakdown of
community, but as vile conflict. As I write, the youth of Swat are
demanding state action against militancy. Their demand is
simple, and heartbreaking: “We want books instead of guns.”
Their mobilisation comes on the back of many others — the PTM
demanding basic rights, the Baloch demanding the release of
their disappeared friends and families.
If young Americans are miserable, young Pakistanis must be

desolate, defeated. It will take nothing less than a complete recast
of society, the economy and power to help our future generations
find the hope to strive.
The writer is a political and integrity risk analyst.
Twitter: @humayusuf

Insularity and breakdown
dawn.com/news/1710877/insularity-and-breakdown
September 19, 2022
THERE’S something surreal about party politics appearing as

business as usual while large swathes of the country remain
submerged in floodwater. The spectacle of jalsas, party
representatives bickering at press conferences, and social media
swipes over pictures taken or not taken at a multilateral
diplomatic event seems to have no relationship to any actual
country. It is almost entirely consumed by its own benchmark of
one-upping political opponents — politicians, party activists, or a
cousin who supports a different party. And it is enough to flip
even the most hardened optimists about the evolution of
Pakistan’s political system.
To be clear, 14 years of continuity in the political process have
produced some reasonable dividends. There’s greater political
competition and at least an effort of sorts to compete on some
notions of service delivery.
But if there’s one area where progress seems stalled — if not

degenerating altogether— it is the de-socialised nature of
decision-making among political leaders and their parties. By de-
socialised I mean that political decisions and their related
outcomes have little to do with the electorate, or the wider polity.
The starkest example of this is the discourse around a new army

chief’s appointment. The very fact that an otherwise procedural
act is presented as the be-all and end-all of the country’s
immediate future shows how insulated politics is from the rest of
the country. Politicians from all mainstream parties firmly
believe, with good reason given historical precedence, that their
future chances of running a government hinge on this one
appointment. Their performance, or lack thereof in office, or
their actual connection with the electorate, has little to do with
their political fate.
Increasingly, the imagery is receding from the scene, while the water refuses to
do so.
This is an outcome conditioned by the country’s history of

military interference. Thankfully, now that a particularly vocal
section of the electorate has experienced the military’s rebuke,
it’s much harder to deny it outright. Politicians, for their part, do
themselves no favours by playing along with this charade;
bending over backwards in obsequious deference, in the hope
that the next intervention works in their favour.
Another very stark example of the same insularity is found in
economic decision-making. Securing the IMF bailout was
perhaps the only choice Pakistan had, given rapidly worsening
global conditions. The finance minister delivered on the biggest
task he was given, despite facing an array of internal and
external pressures. Beyond the confines of the finance ministry,
there is no effort to actually think about the economy as a real
thing that influences real people.
Are people supposed to celebrate an IMF bailout, which, while

essential for macroeconomic stabilisation, also brings about a
world of inflationary pain? Are people supposed to internalise
the pain for the sake of the fact that our bond yields are now
under control? As I’d mentioned in a previous column, selling
economic pain requires politicians to make an offer that provides
some vision of betterment in the future. Selling pain on the
simple notion that there’s nothing else that we can do is a really
poor offer.
Finally, the floods and their ongoing aftermath reveal an

immediate and very hazardous indifference The attention given
to this widespread catastrophe was belated. Many parts of Gilgit-
Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan had
experienced considerable damage in late June, early July.
Concerted action was only launched once the flood entered the
Indus plain and images slowly made their way into the national
media discourse around late July, early August. For about a
month, the attention was relatively strong. Civil society was able
to garner significant international coverage for the disaster as
well. But increasingly, the imagery is receding from the scene,
while the water refuses to do so. Politics and politicking were
never really put on pause, but the upcoming by-elections will
ensure that national discourse moves past the submerged
villages and destroyed lives and livelihoods relatively quickly.
This is particularly perilous because even when the flood

recedes, the challenge of rehabilitation will remain immense.
The survival of millions of affected individuals rests only on
concerted action by the state and maintained vigilance and
mobilisation by civil society. And yet, early signs show that there
is a high likelihood of media and political discourse shifting
elsewhere.
Part of the problem is that the places bearing the brunt of this
disaster are unviable media markets. No TV channel cares about
villagers in Dadu because they’re not their primary audience, nor
are they the consumers for advertisers who pour money into
their broadcasts. A related problem is that these afflicted
households have voters whose attentions and votes no one is
really competing for. The incumbent PPP faces little challenge in
rural Sindh and no other mainstream party seems interested in
presenting itself as an alternative choice. While some local
politicians are genuinely involved in relief efforts, the vast
majority of Pakistan’s political apparatus is occupied with other
matters. The ignominy of being ignored by both mainstream
politics and media is a truly grim one; and it is one that many of
those safely ensconced in large urban centres will have little
experience of.
The tenuous link between politics and the people it claims to

exist for is a dangerous proposition for any country. One possible
outcome that some observers suggest could happen is a massive
upsurge in public anger, something akin to a pressure cooker
suddenly exploding. This remains in the remit of possibility; but
till it happens, the interim is likely to be characterised by further
mistrust of public authority, a refusal to engage with mainstream
politics, and a growth in non-state solutions to everyday
problems. Alienation among citizens goes hand in hand with the
slow but complete breakdown of a society’s social fabric. And this
is an outcome that increasingly does not seem implausible in
Pakistan’s case.
The writer teaches politics and sociology at Lums.
Twitter: @umairjav

The age of uncertainty
dawn.com/news/1710878/the-age-of-uncertainty
September 19, 2022
IN the midst of the worst catastrophe Pakistan has faced in living

memory, uncertainty looms about the future. But with that comes
an opportunity to rebuild lives and make the country resistant to
the ravages of climate change. The challenge is to plan for a
future in which this threat to human security is mitigated and
managed effectively. Along with navigating a crisis that has
aggravated the country’s economic predicament, the task ahead
is to reverse the setback to human development experienced by
the country in recent years.
The latest Human Development Report (2021-2022) points out

that the past two years have had a devastating impact on
countries across the world. For the first time, human
development has declined in nine out of 10 countries. The UNDP
report describes features of the current fraught and unsettled
environment that also prevail in Pakistan. “We live in a world of
worry,” says the report. Reversals in human development have
taken place almost everywhere due to the Covid-19 pandemic,
with more human suffering occurring in the wake of the Ukraine
conflict. For two consecutive years, the global Human
Development Index (HDI) value declined. A “cost-of-living crisis”
is afflicting nations, regional conflicts continue and record-
breaking temperatures and storms reflect the extreme stress the
planet is under.
The report, Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives, says this kind of

“uncertainty complex” has never been witnessed in the past. It
has three volatile and interacting elements: destabilising
planetary pressures of the Anthropocene, pursuit of sweeping
societal transformations to ease those pressures, and intensifying
polarisation. This is described as the new normal. The report also
underscores that even before the pandemic, the world saw the
erosion of democracy, increase in people’s insecurity, as well as
alienation with their political systems. In a finding that will be
familiar to people in Pakistan, the report warns of the peril of
“new uncertainties” in insecurities, demagoguery and
polarisation evident in many countries. Trust is declining,
hyperinformation is sowing division, political extremism is
increasing, while paralysis has emerged as the paradox of our
age.
With devastating floods adding to the cascading economic and

political crisis in Pakistan, the country’s ranking on the global
human development index may fall even further. The report
shows Pakistan has already dropped seven places to 161 out of
191 countries and now joins the world’s 32 low human
development countries. In 2020, Pakistan’s ranking was 154 of
189 countries. Sri Lanka is ranked 73, Bangladesh 129 and India
is at 132. HDI is a measure that evaluates long-term progress in
three aspects of human development: a long and healthy life,
access to knowledge, and a reasonable standard of living.
Pakistan’s low ranking is a reminder of the long way the country
has to go in this regard.
Divisive politics during the ongoing climate calamity has denuded the country
of a unified response.
UNDP’s Human Development Reports have always produced

quality analysis and shone a light on how to address challenges
in this critical area. But the latest report surpasses previous ones
for its insightful review of the state of play, rich discussion of a
range of contemporary phenomena fuelling our age of
uncertainty, and what to do about it. The report also contains
thoughtful essays by an array of experts on wide-ranging issues
germane to human security and development.
The report considers the rise in polarisation within and across

countries. Its discussion of the drivers and consequences of
polarisation is especially instructive. Uncertainties of different
kinds, human insecurity and an unsettled environment increase
polarisation. Inequalities and disruptive changes in information
systems also sharpen polarisation. One consequence of the
“confluence of heightened uncertainty with high inequality” is
the rise in support for authoritarian leaders.
Seen as an impediment to purposeful action to address

challenges, intensifying political and social polarisation has a
paralysing effect and undermines the ability to act collectively.
Above all, it delays action to curb human pressures on the planet.
So even when problems and solutions are clear, there is “a
failure to act”. The report argues that “polarisation can take
dangerous forms when different groups operate with entirely
different sets of facts and, thus, realities, especially when those
realities are bound up with group identities”. This is enabled by
new digital technologies. Polarisation at the elite level leads to
polarised views among people, who then become “more tolerant
of undemocratic behaviour”. What the report calls
‘hyperinformation’ is seen as “powering social division and
polarisation”.
There is much here that resonates in Pakistan, where the

interplay between political unpredictability, multiple
deprivations and insecurities, economic hardship and rising
inequalities have provided an enabling environment for
heightened polarisation and for the growing influence of
populism. The populist narrative that taps into declining public
trust in institutions by portraying them as ‘elitist’ and
unresponsive to people’s needs finds widespread traction in our
society. Digital and social media is further reinforcing
divisiveness and polarisation. Its disruptive impact here, as
elsewhere, comes from non-fact-based information and the fake
news it so easily spreads. The crisis of national unity that
political polarisation has created casts a long shadow over
Pakistan’s future — and its ability to meet the complex challenges
it has to negotiate. Divisive politics during the ongoing climate
calamity, which has also involved some parties stoking
controversy over flood donations, has denuded the country of a
coordinated and unified response.
To return to the report, the most important takeaway is its

central argument that harnessing human development is the
surest means to navigate uncertain times, as they open
possibilities for transformative change. This is because at such
moments, people see the need for change and also because of
new opportunities offered by technological innovation and
advances in science and medicine. Shocks, it suggests, creates
openings for policy change. The report calls for policies that
focus on investment, insurance and innovation to help people
negotiate uncertainties, keeping in mind the ineluctable reality
that people are the real wealth of a country. Wise counsel that
needs to be acted on.

A long-awaited tour
dawn.com/news/1710697/a-long-awaited-tour
September 17, 2022
IT is a tour that has been 17 years in the making and comes after
one that was cancelled almost a year ago. Finally, England have
arrived for their tour of Pakistan, having shunned trips to the
country due to security concerns since their last visit in 2005. A
seven-match T20 series starts in Karachi from Tuesday, and
precedes a Test tour in winter. Pakistan breathed a sigh of relief
when the players landed on Thursday. Last year’s events, when
England withdrew from a two-match series after New Zealand
pulled out from their tour due to events in Afghanistan, had not
been forgotten and prompted a strong reaction from the PCB; the
British high commissioner clarified the decision taken by the
England and Wales Cricket Board was not on his government’s
advice. The envoy also vowed that England’s scheduled tour this
year would not be affected and that international cricket would
return to Pakistan. It has now, and the ECB has also agreed to
compensate the PCB by adding two matches to the five-match
itinerary for this tour. In fact, they have sent most of their top
players, which will allow cricket fans in Pakistan to witness some
engaging contests. England follow Australia in becoming the
latest high-profile team to tour Pakistan, completing the revival
of international cricket in the country, which has left no stone
unturned in ensuring the safety of travelling teams since the
attack on Sri Lankan players in 2009.
This tour, like last year’s, comes before the Twenty20 World Cup.
Both teams will be looking to fine-tune their preparations for the
tournament in Australia. Despite the cancellations, Pakistan
exceeded expectations at last year’s World Cup by reaching the
semi-finals. Babar Azam’s side is still a force to be reckoned with,
although they will want to get past the disappointment of losing
the T20 Asia Cup final to Sri Lanka recently. A series win against
England will burnish their credentials as one of the favourites for
the World Cup.
Opinion
Political interference
dawn.com/news/1710698/political-interference
September 17, 2022
PUNJAB Chief Secretary Kamran Afzal’s decision to quit his

position and proceed on a two-week leave of absence is a clear
manifestation of the tense relationship between bureaucrats and
the current rulers of the province. It is unfortunate that he was
driven by the ruling PTI-PML-Q alliance to a point where he
found himself repeatedly requesting the federal government to
pull him out of the province. Ever since the ruling PTI-PML-Q
combine returned to power in Punjab, as a consequence of a
controversial court interpretation of the Constitution’s defection
clauses, Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi has given the province’s top
bureaucrat short shrift. Particularly frustrating for Mr Afzal has
been the excessive political interference in administrative
decisions, especially the abrupt transfer of civil servants,
undermining the principle of good governance. What the future
holds for him is unclear; but he is unlikely to return to his job
under the present political set-up in the province. That is
arguably what Mr Elahi, who has repeatedly accused Mr Afzal of
having helped the rival PML-N get Hamza Shehbaz elected as
chief minister in April, must have wanted all along.
The relationship between politicians and bureaucrats has never

been free of tensions. It is common knowledge that politicians
across party lines have used the fear of punishment, abrupt
transfers and patronage systems to keep the bureaucracy in line.
However, the last few years have been especially tough for
senior officers posted in Punjab. Many have had to suffer at the
hands of the National Accountability Bureau. During the last five
months, they have been caught up in frequent political changes
in the province; there have been wholesale transfers by incoming
governments, and this has made it difficult for them to take day-
to-day decisions that have a direct bearing on the quality of
service delivery to citizens. No wonder governance has suffered
immensely as bureaucrats, instead of doing their job, prefer to
curry favour with the ruling politicians in their quest for prized
postings and additional perks. Over the course of the last seven
decades, several civil service reforms have been introduced to
build bureaucracy’s capacity and make it capable of effective
service delivery. None has succeeded due to the politicisation of
this important institution of state. With the country mired in one
of the most serious economic crises in its history, it is high time
bureaucrats were depoliticised to stop further erosion of the
state’s legitimacy and writ.
Opinion
Missing direction
dawn.com/news/1710699/missing-direction
September 17, 2022
IT is unfortunate that Finance Minister Miftah Ismail seems to

have largely withdrawn from the public eye at a time when
someone with grit and determination is needed to proactively
manage the economy. One hopes that he hasn’t been forced into
the shadows by detractors from within the PML-N. There were
some who had loudly protested the difficult yet necessary
decisions Mr Ismail had to make to plug fiscal leakages Pakistan
cannot afford at this juncture. It is clear he has not yet been
forgiven for those decisions. Last Tuesday, PML-N’s vice president
Maryam Nawaz, responding to questions about the state of the
economy, had made it clear she remained “categorically”
opposed to the fuel and electricity price increases Mr Ismail was
forced to implement. “I don’t support this decision, and it should
be corrected,” she had said, adding that her “first responsibility
was to the people”.
For Pakistani politicians across the ideological spectrum,

‘responsibility to the people’ is often just a euphemism to splurge
scarce state resources on vote-winning subsidies. Mr Ismail, on
the other hand, has inherited an economy that gives him no
room to sign off on such plans. His compulsions must not be
made the reason to sideline him. Instead, what he may be able to
offer, as he proved in his approach to reviving the IMF
programme, is hard-nosed management of the economy. Pakistan
has been dealt a body blow by nationwide floods and the
devastation they have caused. The impact on the economy will be
felt for months. Meanwhile, the current account position
continues to deteriorate due to the need to import fuel and cover
food shortages, while exporters find it difficult to fill orders due
to a global slowdown, sharply higher production costs and
shortages of inputs. The resumption of the dollar’s relentless
climb, expected to continue in the near future, also makes
matters worse. A finance minister freed from the trappings of
election-year considerations — especially someone who can put
practicality above self-interest — may be just what the country
needs to chart its way out of the troubled waters it is in.
The going won’t be easy. Weekly inflation has persisted above

40pc for the past several weeks, burning a massive hole in the
citizenry’s household budgets. However, with tighter
management of markets and robust price control mechanisms to
set fair prices, part of the inflationary pressure can be lifted. To
ensure the success of such efforts, it will be important for the
finance minister to forcefully resist internal demands for ‘relief’
for special interest groups. A grave mistake was made in
withdrawing the electricity bill taxes from traders under political
pressure. Such mistakes will have to be reversed. The economy
cannot be resuscitated if rival factions within the PML-N
continue to make it impossible to take important decisions and
stick to them.

Opinion
Nature vs nurture - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1710700/nature-vs-nurture
September 17, 2022
IN 2018, inspired by Ann Patchett’s essay ‘My year of no

shopping’ in the New York Times, I chose to abstain from
shopping for a year. I too made a list of what I would allow
myself to spend on: toiletries, dining out, travel, pet and exercise
paraphernalia. Patchett learned how she got by without the
things she had restricted herself from buying and the year
helped her understand what constituted necessity. Also, it wasn’t
hard.
I already knew the lessons I would learn — or rather relearn —

having subscribed to a monastic living as a revolving expat
between Karachi, Vietnam and UAE between 1998 and 2014.
However, that all changed when I moved to Chicago in 2016 and
began to worship at the temple of consumption that is America.
After my return to Karachi, I practised a more mindful form of
shopping until the pandemic hit. In virtual isolation, I found
online shopping helped me deal with a lot of the anxiety.
Unfortunately, I have been unable to come out of a state of
reckless consumption where I can justify needing this thing.
It’s called the Diderot Effect, named after a French philosopher

who first wrote about a motivation for overconsumption in the
18th century. It states that getting a new thing creates a spiral of
consumption wherein people end up with things they previously
didn’t need.
I was reminded of all this while reading The Book of Form and
Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki, which received the Man Booker prize
this year. It is a searing indictment of how people’s
overconsumption and focus on self vs community is destroying
the environment.
If we viewed objects as living things, would we value them differently?
Ozeki is a Zen priest and her writing is influenced by Buddhist

principles; the theme of impermanence, for example, forms a
central tenet in the novel. It is a story about the teenager Benny
and his mother, Annabelle, who are grieving the death of their
father/ husband. Benny begins to hear voices from objects —
tables, windows, scissors — and is hospitalised following an
incident. He begins a dialogue of sorts with one of those voices:
The Book. And at some point, the Book becomes a narrator as
well, sometimes in response to Benny, sometimes about Benny.
The novel is a brutal telling of how the modern medical system

treats Benny as he tries to deal with the voices he’s hearing. If
these items are living and communicating their stories, then is it
crazy that Benny can hear them? And if he’s able to make peace
with his “condition”, why is it so problematic for everyone else?
Is Benny mad for hearing voices, or is the system broken for
diagnosing him as mad? We meet a host of characters in the
novel who will rekindle your faith in compassion and shared
humanity as they form a community to help Benny and
Annabelle deal with their lives.
I was also moved by the non-preachiness with which Ozeki

tackles people’s attachment to things and the comparison and
despair that comes when looking at yourself through other
people’s acquisitions. Benny’s mother Annabelle’s hoarding is
one such example. One can sympathise with her desire to have
things around her to help her feel secure, given her
circumstances, but as you watch her story unfold, you’re
understanding how the hoarding is impacting the environment.
This is also a story about inanimate objects. If we viewed these

objects as living things, would we value them differently — ie,
not as easily disposable? Could it help us change our pattern of
constant consumption? Retail therapy gives us instant
gratification but has long-term impact on one’s financial health;
forget what fast fashion is doing to the environment.
I can’t help but think of a respect for things at this particular

time, when climate change ravages Pakistan. Plenty has been
written about how Pakistan is paying a price for the West’s
overconsumption and how that is leading to the planet’s decay. It
is grossly unfair and justifies all calls for debt cancellation and
reparations. Overconsumption the world over contributes to the
widening gap between the poor and the rich. “The equivalent of
almost three planets could be required to provide the natural
resources needed to sustain current lifestyles,” warned a UN
report.
I see current lifestyles here as living in large houses where
everyone has their own car, wasting food (at home and in
businesses), buying things because they are on sale rather than
because we need them, and still using plastic.
The answers are not easy but scientists agree a shift in

consciousness is urgently needed so the planet can heal. There is
an innumerable number of people who need to heal too, from
loss of health, livelihood and home. Ozeki reminds us that
consumption doesn’t fill voids, but fulfillment can come from
connecting to community, nature, land — all of which give back a
sense of purpose, happiness.
The writer teaches journalism.

Code Red - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1710701/code-red
September 17, 2022
THE colossal floods this year are a stark reminder of the

suddenness with which Covid-19 hit the world. The virus
paralysed mobility and disrupted the economy, triggering fear
and uncertainty in the lives of everyone. People with existing
health problems faced a higher risk, and those with multiple
health problems could not survive the shock. The climate-
induced hydro-meteorological disaster that hit the southern part
of Pakistan had similar shock value. It exacerbated the existing
structural inadequacies in the system and affected the poor and
the vulnerable with more intensity. This one-in-a-thousand-years
event has submerged a third of the country in water and
impacted 33 million people, with numbers rising every day and
no end in sight to misery and hardship.
The current estimated damages of $10 billion do not take into
account the secondary and intergenerational impact of losses.
Some experts think that this number can go up to $16bn. A whole
generation will have to bear the brunt of this disaster and
millions will be pushed back into poverty. Even before the
disastrous floods, the economic losses attributed to climate
change were estimated at $3.79bn, but the scale of floods in 2022
has jettisoned numbers out of the window. At the upcoming
COP27 in Egypt, loss and damage and climate finance will remain
contentious issues, with little hope of agreement between the
Global North and South.
With disasters on the rise and competing demands on finance, it

will become increasingly difficult to safeguard human security.
This calls for a moment of reflection. Non-traditional threats are
on the ascendant. They now pose a higher risk and come without
warning. Even scientists say that such drastic variations in
weather patterns were anticipated to occur 30 years later.
Simultaneous events, like wildfires, droughts, famine, flooding,
temperature spikes, diminishing river waters and loss of
biodiversity and habitat, are signs of a natural system gone
haywire.
Since 1980, more than 2.4m people and over $3.7 trillion has
been lost globally to disasters caused by natural hazards, with
total damages increasing by more than 800 per cent. The pace of
increase can be gauged by the fact that within one year, losses
from natural catastrophes in 2020 jumped to $210bn globally,
from $166bn in 2019. According to the UN country classification,
of all the deaths from weather, climate and water hazards from
1970 through 2019, 91pc occurred in developing economies.
It will be increasingly difficult to safeguard human security.
Pakistan is in the eye of the storm. With melting glaciers, intense
monsoons, climate hotspots, a 1,000-kilometre-long coastline and
food and water scarcity on the horizon, the list of disasters is
endless. The task of managing disaster and reducing risks will
become more difficult as the country gets caught in a cycle of
recurring disasters without respite. It is estimated that the
number of people in need of humanitarian assistance globally as
a result of climate-induced disasters could go beyond 200m
annually by 2030. Under a pessimistic scenario, the price tag for
financial assistance could go as high as $20bn per year by 2030.
The unexpected acceleration in climate change could displace
140m people within countries by 2050, adding stressors on urban
centres and making cities unlivable and unsafe.
As the fifth most vulnerable country to climate shocks, Pakistan’s

current population of 225m, with an estimated 40pc living in
areas at risk of 4pc to 5pc decline in quality of life by 2030, stands
on the edge of a precipice. Climate changes will increase rural
poverty and cause significant losses to GDP, setting in motion a
series of cascading impacts that will destroy livelihoods and have
a crippling effect on the economy and supply chains.
Vulnerability is the result of a constellation of factors that push a

country towards the tipping point. Climate calamities, hitting us
at a time when we are politically fragmented, socially polarised
and economically weak, are compounding the crisis and
increasing vulnerability. Keeping an eye on the current crisis and
future fragilities, it is important to plot a stabilisation strategy.
We live in an interconnected world where independence is only
a theoretical construct that defines the geographical boundaries
of a country. For transformative resilience, we need critical shifts
in perspective to integrate co-dependence, connectivity and
communication into planning within and across borders. It is
time to take stock of past performance and future preparedness
to cope with challenges that include physical risks, economic
uncertainties, declining social indicators and climate hazards.
The monster floods of 2022 should serve as a wake-up call for

course correction. The existential threat is at our doorstep and
we need to take both spatial and temporal time scales into
consideration for planning a safe future.
The writer is chief executive of Civil Society Coalition for Climate

Change.
aisha@csccc.org.pk

Name the chief, then what?
dawn.com/news/1710702/name-the-chief-then-what
September 17, 2022
WITH the economy in dire straits, backbreaking inflation and the

country reeling in the aftermath of the devastation caused by
record rainfall and floods, what is the reaction of the Pakistani
politicians across the political divide?
They are obsessing over who will be appointed the next army
chief when (and if) the incumbent retires at the end of November
this year. The supporters of the governing PDM alliance could
object to being bracketed with the opposition PTI and may argue
that the prime minister is leading the flood relief and economic
revival effort.
To them, I’d say let’s turn back and look at the no-confidence
move earlier this year. PML-N sources have told me that the
party supremo Nawaz Sharif was not excited at the prospect of
the no-trust move against former prime minister Imran Khan,
but was presented with a compelling argument during the
debate in the party. Two factors or scenarios were discussed.
The economic crisis had already erupted, with a spiralling

current account deficit sounding the death knell (not just ringing
the alarm bells), the IMF package on hold, and delusional PTI
economy managers thinking they’d find the money from
somewhere to fund their near-suicidal fuel subsidy against the
backdrop of skyrocketing global energy prices.
Imran Khan has been open in wanting all key institutions to support him and
not be ‘neutral’.
Against this backdrop, there was a sense that the PML-N did not
need to intervene and that the PTI government would collapse
under the weight of its own incompetence and ineptitude. This
view was strengthened by several by-election results across the
country, which demonstrated support was plummeting for the
governing party.
On the flip side, however, if the PTI was allowed to continue in

office till the end of the year, it was certain that Imran Khan
would appoint his own man as the army chief. With the prime
minister and COAS in tandem, the opposition would be
persecuted endlessly and kept out of power for the foreseeable
future, possibly over two terms.
This scenario clinched the argument for support to the no-

confidence motion. After all, the individual expected to be Imran
Khan’s choice was seen by political detractors as having a track
record of silencing the media, of manipulating the 2018 elections
and then shepherding every ‘independent’ member of
parliament into the PTI’s arms. He was also credited with
‘managing’ court verdicts against PML-N leaders.
It was said, even as others had lost faith in the former prime
minister barely three years after propelling him into the chief
executive’s office, that his commitment to ‘Project Imran’
remained unflinching.
Once Shehbaz Sharif was elected to replace Imran Khan, those in

the PML-N-PDM who supported immediate elections were out-
voted by the premier’s group, which wanted to stay in office and
enjoy power while citing the national interest in taking
exceedingly unpopular decisions to save the country from
economic ruin as their motivation.
Out of office, Imran Khan went on the offensive and started to

attack everyone he wanted to fall in line — from the judiciary to
the military. He has been open in wanting all key institutions to
support him and not be ‘neutral’ (as the Constitution lays down)
in what he describes as a battle of ‘good and evil’. He has mocked
those suddenly assuming ‘neutrality’ after running years-long
vilification campaigns against all politicians, with his sole
exception.
Given the resultant uncertainty, every bit of speculation, every

rumour is believed and not taken with a pinch of salt. Stability so
vital to an economic revival is the obvious casualty. Nobody
reads history or they would realise that no matter who appoints
the chief, once in office, his hand is not guided by gratitude
towards the prime minister who chose him from a list of a
handful of three stars, but by other factors.
Gen Douglas Gracey was the chief of general staff and acting C-in-
C (as Pakistan’s first commander-in-chief Gen Frank Messervy
was away on leave in the UK) in 1947 when he declined to obey
the civilian governor-general Quaid-e-Azam’s order to send
troops to Kashmir and preferred to obey ‘supreme commander’
Claude Auchinlek’s ‘stand down’ order. Yet, he was promoted to
chief in 1948 and continued in office till 1951.
Although prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan appointed Gen Ayub

Khan as C-in-C to replace Gracey, superseding three senior
officers, it was no secret that the prime minister’s influential aide
Iskander Mirza lobbied hard for Ayub’s elevation. A few years
later, Mirza was elected president.
With the opposition challenging Mirza’s party, the president

imposed martial law and named Ayub Khan as supreme
commander of the armed forces and the chief martial law
administrator. Within months, Ayub was to remove Mirza as
president and banish him into exile.
A decade later, karma was to visit Ayub Khan. Faced with severe
unrest and bloody street protests against his rule, particularly in
East Pakistan, Ayub wanted his C-in-C Yahya Khan to proclaim
martial law and bring the situation under control. Yahya said if
he imposed martial law, he’d be in charge and Ayub had to go.
History repeated itself with Ziaul Haq turning on his benefactor

Z.A. Bhutto, who had ignored several excellent three stars senior
to Zia to pick the latter; then Gen Abdul Waheed Kakar sent
packing president Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who’d appointed him as
COAS, along with prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who’d locked
horns with the president.
In 1999, Musharraf sent Nawaz Sharif, who made him chief,
packing. Musharraf’s choice as COAS, Ashfaq Kayani, acquiesced
in his exit on the coalition government’s demand. Nawaz Sharif’s
appointee Raheel Sharif made life difficult for the prime minister
and, under his successor, Sharif was manoeuvred out of office
and politics.
The point is that any chief will represent his personal and
institutional interests once elevated to office and forget who
ushered him in. Political parties will be well advised to focus on
clean, effective governance and delivery to the impoverished
multitudes. That is what will empower them and not one
individual or the other in this office and that.


The business of hate
dawn.com/news/1710703/the-business-of-hate
September 17, 2022
PAKISTAN’S economy has been under pressure for decades; the

country has yet to get down to the business of undertaking the
structural reforms necessary to put it on a firmer footing.
However, the business of hate has been flourishing in the
country, and the state and society do not squander any
opportunity to profit from it.
PML-N leader Mian Javed Latif’s vile anti-Ahmadi remarks,

intended to malign former prime minister Imran Khan, are yet
another reminder that our political leadership can go to any
extent for political point-scoring. The use of religion is not new in
our politics. Almost all political actors resort to it recklessly,
without caring about the consequences for the smaller faith
communities in the country and the overall impact on society.
PML-N leaders have themselves been the target of hatemongers
in the recent past. For instance, one of their ministers was forced
to resign, and another survived a murder attempt provoked by a
malign, religiously motivated smear campaign. Sadly, the PML-N
is now itself trying to play with fire. The use of the religion card
by PML-N leaders reflects their frustration over how fast the
party is losing political ground.
It scarcely needs repeating that the plight of smaller religious

communities in the country, both Muslims and non-Muslims, and
reports about their persecution keep surfacing on mainstream
and social media quite frequently. Nevertheless, both state and
society are very keen that they should not be portrayed as bigots,
in the manner that India is being depicted by the international
media. A civil society organisation, the Centre for Social Justice,
has recently come under fire from the authorities for submitting
a report to the UN Human Rights Council for allegedly being
‘contrary to fact’. Coming to its defence, the Joint Action
Committee for People’s Rights, Lahore, has said that the contents
of the report reflect a verifiable situation on the ground, and
state institutions should have taken it seriously to improve the
state of religious minorities in Pakistan.
Pakistan does not want to be compared to India, because, firstly,

it wants to show that both states are different and share very
little in common. Second, it is the state’s premise that Pakistan,
being an ideological state, is more capable of safeguarding its
minorities than India. While India claims to be a secular,
democratic state, many in Pakistan assert that the ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party promotes the intolerant Hindutva
ideology. For these and other reasons, power elites in Pakistan do
not like any attempt to compare the two countries in terms of
image. Pakistan describes incidents of religious persecution at
home as ‘isolated’ and perpetrated by hardliners; power elites in
India present a similar argument. Thus both sides have at least
one commonality in the construction of the narrative.
Power elites use ideology and religion to maximise their goals at the cost of
dividing society.
The youth in Pakistan, and perhaps in India as well, are not

burdened with the hangover of partition but have little in
common when it comes to politics and ideology despite sharing
some common cultural threads — just like the European nations.
The Pakistani youth conceive of culture largely in terms of social
rituals and expressions. The ‘otherness’ has taken root gradually,
and it could have some political advantages. For example, a
question often raised is how the rise of Hindutva is impacting
Pakistan, and the most probable answer is that it is not to any
significant extent. Though Pakistani youth consider India an
enemy country, they believe at the same time that bilateral issues
can be resolved through dialogue. An ordinary Pakistani may
feel pain at the suffering of Muslims in India, but he or she
considers them part of another state, such as the Rohingya in
Myanmar.
However, the detachment from ‘Indian-ness’ has altered the

concept of the ‘enemy’, while the ideological design of the state
here has helped internalise hate. Now, both power elites and
ordinary Pakistanis feel insecure about people who seem
different from themselves — in terms of religion, sect, race,
ethnicity or social status. Power elites and a major segment of the
religious clergy thrive on such divisions. Communal and
sectarian hatred ultimately weakens cohesion within society,
undermines the Constitution, and erodes a sense of equal
citizenry, although the fear of an external enemy has provided a
glue to bind people of diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds
against a threat to their collective interest.
The growing middle class, urbanisation, and expansion of

religious institutions are often blamed for such transformation
both in India and Pakistan, but the attitude of the power elites is
most instrumental in making a success of the hate business. They
use ideology and religion to maximise their political goals at the
cost of dividing their societies and advancing intolerance.
Ultimately, they also suffer, but still continue along the same
path, which provides them with a kind of perverse, toxic
pleasure.
In his remarks, Mian Javed Latif also mentioned a faculty

member at a university and linked him with Imran Khan. The
individual in question had reportedly taken students to Rabwah
to interact with the Ahmadi community for better understanding.
However, radical religious groups made it into an issue and
forced the university administration to distance itself from the
visit and declare it an individual act.
There is no logic behind bringing the issue into the limelight

except for political manoeuvring, which can put people’s lives in
danger. It is not the actions of India or the civil society in
Pakistan, but shortsighted political and religious leaders that are
painting an ugly picture of this country. The PML-N might have
forgotten that in 2010, after two Ahmadi places of worship in
Lahore were attacked, Mian Nawaz Sharif himself, as prime
minister, had said that members of the community were his
brothers and sisters, a statement that had created ripples in the
country.
The writer is a security analyst.

Crumbling heritage
dawn.com/news/1710541/crumbling-heritage
September 16, 2022
THE failure to limit flood damage to Mohenjo Daro despite

warnings from the heritage site’s administration is an
unfortunate but apt metaphor for the attitude of the government
towards both conservation and disaster mitigation. The
archaeology department has now raised the alarm, saying the
heritage site — that was discovered 100 years ago in 1922 —
would be removed from the World Heritage List if urgent
restoration work is not carried out. The flood damage to the site
had been highlighted by its curator, who in a letter said that the
departments of irrigation, roads, highways and forest had a
critical role in protecting the site as landlords and farmers had
inserted pipes and made cuts in canals to release water towards
the site. Sadly, these departments failed to act, and rainwater
flooded the ancient settlement. Even though the curator had
approached the irrigation department, there was no response.
The walls of one of the world’s oldest preserved archaeological
sites are now crumbling.
The letter written by the curator and the inaction of the officials
reflect both a cry for help and the apathy towards protecting
heritage in the country. The famed heritage site gets
international attention and is a source of revenue for the
government, and for locals, because of tourism. Unfortunately,
once again we are turning to the world for help after officials
failed to do their part. Although Unesco has donated $350,000 for
repair works at heritage sites including Mohenjo Daro, the
amount is a drop in the ocean when compared to the figure of
$45m that will reportedly be required to cover the cost of repairs.
The Sindh government must demand an explanation from
officials of the abovementioned departments regarding their
failure to act. Given the extent of rainfall and flooding across the
country, it may have been difficult to prevent any damage from
occurring, but the scale of it could certainly have been limited if
government officials had responded in time to the curator’s call.
Opinion
Putin’s offer - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1710542/putins-offer
September 16, 2022
REALPOLITIK suggests that Pakistan should be considering all

offers that can help shore up its fragile economy. In this regard,
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer to reactivate the
Pakistan Stream gas pipeline project, made to Prime Minister
Shehbaz Sharif during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
summit in Samarkand, should be taken up if it is beneficial to the
country. The project, finalised in 2015 but largely dormant, is
designed to carry LNG from Karachi to power plants in Punjab.
While critics would say it is a political statement by the Russian
leader designed to loosen his country’s West-imposed isolation
following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Pakistan must consider
Mr Putin’s offer on its merit.
Instead of geopolitical considerations, the two main questions

Pakistani policymakers should be asking about the Russian gas
project are: is it good for the country’s energy security, and is it
achievable? The fact is that Pakistan has been involved in
various regional pipeline projects, and nearly all of them have
remained pipe dreams. For example, the Turkmenistan-
Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline scheme, announced in 2014,
remains on the drawing board. Meanwhile, the Iran-Pakistan gas
pipeline also hangs in the balance; while Tehran completed its
side of the pipeline in 2011, we have yet to build our portion.
There are various reasons for lack of progress on both these
projects, which include geopolitical, financial and technical
issues. Therefore, while Mr Putin’s offer sounds good, Pakistan
needs to do its homework before continuing, lest this scheme is
also put on hold for the foreseeable future. The fact that Pakistan
needs affordable and reliable energy supplies to power its
industrial and economic activities, as well as for domestic use, is
obvious. The question is: how and where to secure those
supplies, along with improving the output of renewable sources?
If Russia can supply affordable gas and oil, there is no reason
why Pakistan should back off fearing a backlash from the US-led
Western bloc. While Pakistan should not seek conflict with any
bloc, energy security is a matter of national sovereignty, and
diktat from foreign quarters is unwelcome. Interestingly, India is
straddling both the Western and ‘other’ blocs; New Delhi is a
member of the anti-China Quad, yet it also partners with the SCO,
of which Beijing is a founding member, and has been snapping
up deeply discounted Russian oil despite Western discomfort. In
such a scenario, Pakistan’s Western friends have no right to
hector this country about deepening energy ties with Russia.
Opinion
Restraint needed - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1710543/restraint-needed
September 16, 2022
IT is regrettable that the country’s most senior judges continue to

air their internal disagreements in public, which has allowed
partisan critics to continue assailing the integrity of the Supreme
Court. After the chief justice publicly regretted on Monday that
the incumbent government had scuttled the appointment of
several judges named by him for elevation to the apex court, a
letter addressed to the Judicial Commission of Pakistan by the
senior puisne judge and a colleague — which was apparently
leaked to the press — communicated that the latter two wanted
to maintain a distance from the chief justice’s position. Despite
hopes that the institution had been working on resolving its
issues, it is apparent that troubles persist.
It is important, for context, to review the differences among the

senior judiciary. The pressing issue at the moment is the
appointment of judges to the Supreme Court, which has been left
with a considerably reduced strength after the retirement of
several justices. In August, the chief justice had, at the JCP forum,
proposed five names for elevation. However, most of the
nominations were resisted by the majority of the commission,
which must approve all appointments to the Supreme Court. The
meeting had thereafter been adjourned without a decision. The
chief justice has now said that the government’s representatives
in the commission opposed his nominees because of the Supreme
Court’s ruling in favour of the PML-Q’s Pervaiz Elahi in the
Punjab chief minister election case. On the other hand, the
dissenting JCP members have maintained that the chief justice
should not ignore the seniority principle and that there needs to
be a formal criterion for the elevation of judges rather than
leaving nominations to the chief justice’s discretion.
Not only is the deadlock on the issue getting uglier, it is also

affecting the court’s functioning. It is clear that the Supreme
Court, saddled with a huge backlog of cases, needs those
appointments urgently. It is feared that divisions may deepen in
the judiciary and the bar councils, forcing stakeholders into
partisan camps. This would be immensely damaging to the
Supreme Court. The growing perception of internal differences
appears to have eroded the apex court’s standing as a neutral
arbiter on matters that fall in its domain. Already, its judgements
are being interpreted as favouring one political faction or the
other, even though the institution had, till recent years, largely
maintained a distance and aloofness from the political domain. It
is imperative that both the judiciary and its attached institutions
open an honest dialogue and reach an amicable resolution to
their prevailing differences. It would also be better to keep this
dialogue away from the public eye, as most commentators are ill-
equipped to understand or participate in what should be an
internal debate among the judges and bar representatives. The
Supreme Court must not be destabilised any further.

Opinion
Ecological care - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1710544/ecological-care
September 16, 2022
“We have planned to build a village comprised of 50 to 100

families. A prefab village is built in a few days. We are
determining a location for it.” — Gen Qamar Bajwa
SINCE the last four years, I have been advocating against

unethical coastal development schemes and urban infrastructure
on reclaimed land. Most of these projects have been top-down
decisions by the state, often proceeding without environmental
impact assessments or community engagement. This unethical
practice has now extended from urban to rural zones, converting
agricultural lands, natural causeways or areas immediately
adjacent, to grid-based sectors for housing projects or for
commercial purposes, including tourism.
Global warming has led to coastal lands and villages along
riverbanks in Pakistan becoming submerged, Sindh being the
worst hit. In the aftermath of the devastating floods, it is all the
more urgent to consider ecology in the rehabilitation phase.
There is a wide range of geographies and terrains along the
Indus, and external/ internal funding agencies, architects and
developers must work with local community knowledge so that
environmental justice and social regional context is reflected in
the outcome.
In conversations with architects and NGOs after the 2005

earthquake and the 2010 floods, what emerged most strongly
was the fractured disaster rehabilitation management, whereby
alien/ unfamiliar construction material was distributed in remote
villages of Pakistan. For example, steel girders and galvanised
iron sheets were distributed as ‘rehabilitation construction
packages’ with Ikea-style instructions on how to put the materials
together.
How do we build back better?
What was missing in these industrial-level giveaways was ‘how

to build back safely in the specific region, ethically and
ecologically’. Prefabricated village models are not the way
forward; in fact, introducing industrialised systems into remote
regions is not sustainable.
Public environmental pedagogy involves research-based,

sustainable rehabilitation infrastructure for specific regions/
terrain, eg, in flood zones, the plinth and roof are considered
critical design elements that can safeguard families from rising
water levels. On the other hand, in earthquake-prone areas,
seismic architecture is implemented.
In both kinds of natural disasters, the rehabilitation phase is
heavily dependent on local material. Thus, alongside disaster risk
management, material management and understanding are very
important. The question is: what do we build with and how do
we build back?
The government, with the help of ethical architects and planners,

can develop skill-based opportunities through workshops for
flood-affected people to learn ‘build back safer’ methodology.
They can be introduced through an understanding of local
construction material, like earthen bricks and lime plaster, as
well as learnings from site-specific construction methodologies,
such as Yasmeen Lari’s zero-carbon footprint design, or those
applied by the Indus Earth Trust whose founder, Shahid Khan, is
also an architect.
Neighbouring countries that deal with flooding on a yearly basis

also have lessons to offer. In Bangladesh, there is Anna
Heringer’s HOMEmade Project, which is sustainable for two
main reasons: first, it uses mud and bamboo — readily available,
local, renewable resources. Second, it saves land for agriculture
by building two-storey buildings instead of single-storey
structures.
These ‘handmade’ methods involving local people work on a

model of sustainable and modern architecture in a dynamic
process which has been successful on a lab experimental level.
But now, it is critical to adopt these design philosophies in our
everyday construction for rehabilitating rural flood-affected
areas. Continuing with the practice of using concrete and other
alien material will again lead to the creation of heat islands and
infrastructural rupture as witnessed recently on a devastating
scale.
The concept of ‘architecture and ecological care’ has hardly been
applied in our context, especially in academic institutes where
design practices are geared towards preparing star architects for
selling competitive skyline structures.
Now is the time to practise otherwise, where the goal for

architecture projects is to improve the living conditions of the
local population and strengthen regional identity through
sustainable practices in home construction. Young architects
must depart from established concepts and develop intelligent
methods using material easily accessible to the rural population,
like mud brick as an alternative to concrete.
The floods in Pakistan are a time of reckoning. From my practice

and spatial thinking, we have to think now about how each year,
more and more agricultural land is lost to residential
development. I believe that if we use it wisely, architecture has
the potential to contribute significantly to the restoration of
ecological balance in this country.
The writer is an architect.

Twitter: @marvimazhar

Role of ‘advisers’ - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1710545/role-of-advisers
September 16, 2022
FROM time immemorial, rulers have had trusted advisers outside

the formal set-up of their council of ministers. F.D. Roosevelt had
his Harry Hopkins, who was authorised to meet Stalin, and
Neville Chamberlain had his heartily detested Horace Wilson.
Jawaharlal Nehru had two baleful and unworthy characters as
advisers — V.K. Krishna Menon and G. Parthasarathy.
Now, advisers have their strong points. The official, for all his
qualities, is a ‘file-wallah’. His horizon is limited by precedents,
memories and the outlook he acquired in office — in sum, the
files. The outsider has his flaws. He can be a seeker of office from
his partner in high office.
In 1964, the Indian government set up a committee on the Indian
foreign service. It had a word of caution regarding ‘advisers’
from outside. The last 60 years have seen an enormous increase
in this tribe, with little ostensible gain to the public interest.
None of this suggests that the outsider is of no use. He is —

provided that he is intellectually well equipped, is of sound
judgement and, above all, has integrity and humility.
Politicians must heed professional advice.
Politicians in power are justified in receiving inputs from

outsiders. But they must never underrate the professionals. As
the committee rightly noted: “No policy can be formulated except
on the basis of accurate information. It is a primary duty of the
foreign service to maintain a continuous supply of information to
the ministry of external affairs by means of accurate and
perceptive reports on current events and discernible trends over
the entire range of our interests. Such reports, to be of value,
should be objective, with no disagreeable facts suppressed or
slurred over.”
One sees men admirably equipped in other subjects, but their

only qualification to speak on foreign affairs is that they are
‘interested’ in the subject.
The analogies of domestic politics are irrelevant in world politics.

It is a whole world in itself; this world of sovereign states and the
understanding of its working comes but by diligent application.
But, of course, the professional may be overborne. Courage may

fail him. The ambassador may report just what he thinks the
minister would like to know, and the civil servants in the
ministry proffer just the advice that will please — or, better still,
cease to advise altogether.
These lapses are not imaginary. They have occurred often

enough. Thus, Mr Warren F. Ilchman of the University of
California, Berkeley, has, on the basis of interviews with former
members of the Indian foreign service, observed the “tendency
for men in the field to write what the prime minister [Nehru]
wished to hear, especially reports confirming non-alignment as a
policy”.
When Sino-Indian relations deteriorated, a particularly

fulminatory Chinese statement (May 1959) cited a former Indian
ambassador to Peking, Mr R.K. Nehru, as witness to Chinese
goodwill. Mr Nehru’s statements deploring the ‘rigid’ stand
towards China show how accurate was the Chinese estimate.
One has only to read K.P.S. Menon’s memoirs to realise that in the
halcyon days of Indo-Soviet relations, he deemed it his duty to
depict Moscow, to which he was accredited, in the most glowing
of terms. The late prime minister Nehru’s patronage had been
enjoyed to an unusual degree. He appreciated the experience so
much as to acquire a wholly erroneous conception of his duties
as secretary general of India’s foreign ministry.
As remarked elsewhere: “How could the civilian head of a

foreign office offer frank advice to the political head when he
himself regards the organisation as no more than a research
bureau? Nehru had scant use for expertise in a field he regarded
exclusively his own.”
One singularly tragic instance of his indifference to professional

advice may be cited. The late Sir Girja Shankar Bajpai advised
him about the time of the Panchsheel Agreement with China to
stipulate that in return for India’s recognition of China’s
sovereignty over Tibet, China should recognise the McMahon
Line and agree to the reopening of an Indian consulate in
Xinjiang.
The advice was rejected. What was so remarkably prescient

about it was the condition regarding the consulate. Recognition
of the McMahon Line was an obvious condition, but it needed
real understanding of the country’s geopolitical interests to ask
for an Indian consulate in Xinjiang. Had it existed, the Chinese
could not have built the Aksai Chin road as they did later without
New Delhi coming to know of it.
No amount of skilful reorganisation of any external affairs

ministry will prove useful unless there is a willingness on the
part of the political chiefs to recognise the need for expertise in
the formulation and implementation of foreign policy and a
conscious encouragement of the growth of such expertise.
Advisers from outside can help only to a limited extent.
The writer is an author and a lawyer based in Mumbai.

A flawed approach - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1710546/a-flawed-approach
September 16, 2022
THE government and disaster management agencies at both the

national and provincial level have been severely criticised as
Pakistan experiences one of the most devastating floods in recent
years. This year’s floods, which have reportedly killed 1,500
people and directly affected over 33 million, are among the worst
disasters to have hit the country.
The government’s apparent lack of planning and preparedness

has been attributed to the sheer magnitude of the flood hazard.
Several politicians have pushed forward narratives of
‘unprecedented rains’, ‘act of God’ and ‘climate change’ to
absolve themselves and their institutions of the responsibility to
protect citizens from the disaster. These narratives reinforce an
archaic, response-centric approach to disaster management,
whereby the government springs into action after a disaster,
providing rescue, relief and rehabilitation support. This
approach has contributed to the unfolding of a monumental
humanitarian crisis, and has led to extensive losses to the
economy and infrastructure, disproportionately affecting the
poor.
This situation raises questions about the role and responsibilities

of the government in protecting its citizens against the impact of
a disaster and the reasons for the disconnect between its
expected role and the status quo.
Until the middle of the 20th century, disaster risk management

approaches were based on the ‘naturalness’ of disasters and
narrowly conceptualised as the provision of relief and assistance
in their aftermath. Several decades later, the concepts of ‘hazard’
and ‘vulnerability’, the two distinct components of disaster risk,
allowed for deeper insight into the processes of vulnerability; eg,
how unequal access to resources and power contributed to ‘who’
is impacted. The disaster risk management cycle approach
conceptualised disaster management as sequential steps — from
risk assessment, mitigation, and preparedness before a disaster,
to response, humanitarian assistance, and reconstruction in its
wake. This marked a shift away from the response-centric
approach, acknowledging that essential steps undertaken before
disasters could reduce the impact. Over the past two decades,
however, the link between disaster risk and development has
been much better understood. It is based on evidence-based
understanding of how disasters result not from natural
biophysical phenomena, but conditions of vulnerability unaddr-
essed or perpetuated by the development process.
A response-centric approach to disaster management is not the answer.
Pakistan’s approach to dealing with disasters was first formalised
under the 1958 National Calamities Act, which made the relief
commissioner responsible for relief in calamity-hit areas. The
shortcomings were exposed after the 2005 Kashmir earthquake
struck. It became evident that the enormous loss of life could not
have been prevented by rescue and relief alone. In the wake of
this tragedy, a push was made for better legislation to formalise
the state’s role in protecting its citizens against disasters. The
National Disaster Management Act, 2010, stipulated the
formation of a National Disaster Management Commission,
chaired by the prime minister, with the NDMA as its federal
executive arm, along with the PDMAs, DDMAs, and local
authorities at the provincial, district and local levels respectively.
These institutions, to be formed at various government tiers,
were given the mandate to work in all phases of the disaster risk
management cycle, besides influencing cross-sectoral
development plans.
More than 12 years later, the institutions set up under the

National Disaster Management Act appear to cling to a response-
centric approach to disaster management and are confined to the
coordination of external humanitarian assistance. A limited
number of disaster-risk reduction initiatives are unable to
influence routine national economic, social and infrastructural
planning — resulting in the failure to integrate disaster risk
reduction (DRR) in the development process. This failure stems
from deep-rooted problems. First, there’s a lack of political will to
shift from a response-focused approach, where political leaders
benefit from being seen as saviours championing relief
initiatives and handing out rations to the affected. Political will to
empower local governments and local level implementation of
DRR initiatives is also lacking.
Second is the perceived budgeting conflict between
‘development’ and DRR; this is the result of the silo mentality of
government sectors and fails to fully account for the benefits of
DRR in terms of loss prevention. Abundant evidence from South
Asia and the Asean countries indicates that DRR measures pay off
remarkably well, particularly in countries like Pakistan where
human development indices are poor.
Third is the dependence on foreign aid during the disaster relief

and reconstruction phase. While the urgency of humanitarian
response takes precedence, little is set aside for long-term risk
reduction and the integration of ‘build back better’ in the
recovery process. A donor-driven agenda in the recovery and
reconstruction phase can also distort priorities, leaving many
urgent needs unmet.
Lastly, the legacy of a response-oriented approach, a part of

which has been delegated to the military, has shaped societal
attitudes. This approach has also contributed to a lack of focus on
the technical and institutional capacity development of disaster
management departments beyond response and relief
coordination.
The current approach is also untenable in the context of climate

change. Without DRR, even a rise of one degree Celsius in
average global temperatures may require a nearly three-fold
increase in global disaster response spending. This increase
appears untenable, particularly for developing countries such as
Pakistan, making it likely that an increasing number of people
will be left without humanitarian assistance.
The social contract between citizens and the state must shift from
one of responsibility to minimise human suffering after a
disaster to one preventing calamities or minimising their
impacts. This underscores the importance of integrating DRR in
sectoral policies and local development plans, based on a
thorough understanding of local risks and the socioeconomic and
technical capacity of the concerned communities.
The writer is a director at the Centre for Disaster Management,

and teaches disaster management at the University of
Management and Technology.
Twitter: @ahmdaligul

Hanging by a thread
dawn.com/news/1710547/hanging-by-a-thread
September 16, 2022
The writer is a former IG police and DG FIA.
THE recent contentious exchanges witnessed in influential

political and military circles call for serious introspection. Has
there been a breach in the blatantly enforced code of silence?
The events of the last few weeks and months have blown the lid
off. No cows are treated as sacred anymore. A bonfire of vanities
and turbulent ‘resistance’ may well upset the ‘democratic’ apple
cart. Are we as a nation doomed to suffer the fate of
authoritarianism? Are we, in the words of Margaret Atwood, to
be “double-plus unfree, having handed the keys to those who
promised to be our defenders but who have become, perforce,
our jailers”? Envy and lust for power can generate results that
can be unsavoury; spite and malice being so obvious in the
current scenario.
PTI chairman Imran Khan’s recent outbursts have ruffled many

feathers. While stating that the new army chief should be chosen
on merit, he uttered words that were harsh and inappropriate:
the PML-N and PPP leaderships should not be trusted as “they
want to bring their own army chief … they are afraid that if a
strong and patriotic army chief is appointed then he would ask
them about the looted wealth”. There are many contradictions in
such utterances. The following remark he made in the same
public rally would have sufficed: the army chief should be
“appointed on merit” and “whoever is on the top of the merit
[seniority] list should be appointed” to head the institution. He
should have cited the examples of Z.A. Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif,
who went down the seniority list by selecting relatively junior
generals; the desire for ‘loyalty’ trumped merit and seniority. The
rest is history.
By alleging that the PDM coalition are “sitting in the government

because they want to bring in an army chief of their choice
through joint efforts”, he revealed his desire to select an army
chief under his watch as chief executive, hence the need for
elections before November this year. What made him ‘insinuate’
that the present government may not select a “strong and
patriotic army chief”, who may not be keen to recover the
“looted wealth”? A chief is as strong as the institution, and our
military establishment is perceived to have immense ‘strength’
vis-à-vis other state institutions. A ‘strong’ army chief is expected
to focus on professional military matters as a soldier and
deliberately move out of the role of ‘political engineering’ that
successive army chiefs since Gen Musharraf have unfortunately
indulged in. A ‘strong’ army chief will declare that no extensions
in service will be resorted to, and the law passed with undue
haste, with overt and zealous support of parties like the PTI and
PML-N, as well as the PPP (unwillingly), will be amended
accordingly. As regards patriotism, there’s no doubt about a
soldier’s patriotic fervour — except that sometimes ‘patriotism’
becomes the refuge of a general who considers the Constitution a
mere piece of paper that can be trampled upon. We don’t want
such ‘patriotic’ chiefs; let army chiefs abide by their oath of office
and stay away from Machiavellian statecraft.
Envy and lust for power can generate results that could prove unsavoury.
Another intriguing observation relates to the role of the army

chief in pursuit of ill-gotten wealth of politicians. Does it show
that as the prime minister for almost four years, Imran Khan
personally knows what role the military and intelligence
leaderships play in steering the process of accountability? Is NAB
an instrument of the agencies, serving the interests of power
players involved in ‘political engineering’? The way the
accountability watchdog was established in 1999 leaves no doubt
of the controversial conduct of successive chairmen of this
institution. It is interesting to note that those who are dubbed as
‘looters’ have currently appointed a very clean and professional
chairman NAB. Will he turn the notorious bureau around so that
it becomes a relatively clean, non-partisan and professionally
sound organisation? I think that he can, given his impeccable
credentials and his courage to say ‘no’ to illegal or inappropriate
interference in his professional domain.
Let us look at the issue of enforced silence, which is much like

the festering wound of enforced disappearances. Again, Atwood
is spot on when she says: “There is nothing that repressive
governments desire more than imposed silence. The inability to
speak encourages the unspeakable and secrecy is an important
tool not only of power but of atrocity.” It’s time to be a little more
candid. Politics over the anti-terror law is insane. Both the
federal and Punjab governments resorted to tit-for-tat
criminalisation of political wrangling by getting cases registered
under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. The definition of terror
under a landmark Supreme Court judgement in 2019 is
restrictive. These cases should have been thrown out by the
courts of law. But no such action has been taken. We are making
a mockery of severe offences meant for hard-core terrorists. Who
is behind the heavy-handed anti-terror counter cases?
Who is responsible for cases against and the arrest of certain
activists and mediapersons when such critics cross the ‘red lines’
that key state institutions themselves draw? Will we heed the
sane advice of respected PPP secretary general Farhatullah
Babar, who said “A man may be imprisoned but not an idea”? At
whose behest does the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority —
using deep packet inspection technology that allows websites to
be blocked directly — make YouTube inaccessible for most
internet service providers when a prominent political leader
addresses rallies? This paper correctly cautioned “the PDM
government should stop playing judge, jury and executioner”,
and sadly concluded that “it is only the country’s fragile
democracy that is suffering as a result”. Indeed, the democratic
façade is hanging by a thread in the present grim situation.
If you are ‘naïve’ or bold enough to point fingers, down you go as

bitter grudges result in peevish accusations. “No one is quite
what they say they are, they reveal themselves in what they do,”
says Atwood in Burning Questions (2022). Without any malice
towards quite a few, F.S. Aijazuddin’s advice rendered in this
paper rings true, that “prudence tempered with humility might
not be a bad medicine to swallow”. Otherwise, we may slide into
perilous dictatorship where power is arbitrary.
The future of democracy must be prudently decided in

Islamabad, not in Rawalpindi.
The writer is a former IG police and DG FIA.

Imperial ideology
dawn.com/news/1710373/imperial-ideology
September 16, 2022
AT its zenith, the British Empire was celebrated by its ideologues

as the dominion upon which the sun never set. When it came,
however, the end was eye-catchingly inglorious — the chaotic
departure from the crown jewel of India shortly after World War
II triggering a rapid decline.
In the eight decades since the British began relinquishing

colonial possessions everywhere, the American Empire has
asserted itself as the world’s policeman and fought off the
challenge of global communism. But we no longer live in a world
in which western hegemony can be taken for granted.
Yet the death of Queen Elizabeth II has reminded us of the
profound legacy of British colonialism; India and Pakistan even
formally observing days of mourning. Rafia Zakaria on these
pages highlighted the eruption of anti-imperialist sentiment on
many social media platforms to counter cringeworthy imperial
apologists in Britain and the world, but my sense is that large
numbers of young people in Pakistan and other former colonies
remain blissfully unaware of how they continue to reproduce the
discursive and material interests of Empire.
Take, for example, the wide-ranging refrain of many otherwise

educated Pakistanis to the devastating floods that have
inundated large parts of Sindh and Balochistan: we need more
dams! Our obsession with mega infrastructure such as dams,
canals, barrages and more can be traced to the profound
transformations of nature inaugurated under British rule in the
late 19th century.
The conquest of nature is a colonial legacy.
Millions of acres of previously non-arable land were literally

colonised under the British Raj by manipulating the flow of
water across the Indus plains. Huge migrations took place from
regions in what today comprises Indian Punjab to the west, with
indigenous nomadic populations pushed to the margins of the
new colonial society. The so-called canal colonies in western
Punjab — and similar offshoots in northern Sindh — were not
only celebrated as a great achievement of British engineering
science but also served as a captive market of raw materials to
motor British industrialisation.
Europe, of course, has long depicted itself as the cradle of
modern civilisation and rationality. During the heyday of
colonialism, natural resources were exploited without end in the
interests of Empire; Nature was quite literally conquered.
Natural irrigation and drainage systems that had sustained local
communities for centuries were destroyed at the altar of what
was uncritically called ‘improvement’, and later, ‘development’.
This myopic outlook was adopted wholesale by generals, political

leaders, bureaucrats, planners and engineers in the post-colonial
period. This summer’s flooding is partly explained by
unprecedented rains. But we cannot sweep under the carpet the
role of mega infrastructure in impeding natural drains and
thereby creating otherwise avoidable flooding.
In DG Khan and Rajanpur, for example, hill torrents cascading

down the Koh-e-Suleyman hill tracts metamorphosed into
massive flash floods in part because of the disastrous effect of the
Asian Development Bank-funded Chashma Right Bank Canal
which local communities and intellectuals resisted in the early
2000s. Aside from flood-specific triggers, the World Bank-funded
Taunsa Barrage rehabilitation project has also had deleterious
effects on local livelihoods, homes and ecologies.
In Sindh, the Left Bank Outfall Drain and Right Bank Outfall
Drain, both of which badly affected natural drains, exacerbated
salination and waterlogging long before this summer’s floods. In
fact, design flaws were identified as having contributed to
flooding in both 2010 and 2011.
Unfortunately, those who would purport to challenge western

hegemony in the years and decades to come have yet to
demonstrate they are able and willing to transcend the arch-
modernist logic of conquering nature that animated European
colonial empires and their postcolonial successors. China, for
example, has major interests in dam-building, construction and
other forms of mega development within Pakistan.
To refuse to mourn a colonial monarch like the British queen

certainly reflects a proud tradition of anti-imperialism that
progressives must uphold. But let us not forget that many young
people in Pakistan today follow Imran Khan in celebrating the
Afghan Taliban as anti-colonial freedom fighters whilst also
reducing anti-imperialism to a vague and opportunistic anti-
Americanism.
The legacy of Empire is manifest in the brazen class privilege

within Pakistani society, alongside ethnic-national oppression
and colonial statecraft. More than ever, however, imperialism
lives on through developmental ideologies and practices that
emphasise the conquest of nature. The tens of millions who are
suffering now are paying the price of the unbridled urge to profit
from nature’s despoilation. It is those who claim themselves to be
the most rational, both at home and abroad, that will push us all
to the point of no return unless we change tack.
Read more
Comments (1)
500 characters
COMMENT MOD POLICY
M. Emad
Sep 16, 2022 07:57am
Queen Elizabeth II was the Queen of Pakistan from 1952 to 1956.
Reply Recommend 0
Resolving conflicts
dawn.com/news/1710374/resolving-conflicts
September 16, 2022
OCCURRENCES of conflict linked to differences in human affairs

are as old as any other issue in society. They occur in just about
any family, tribe, society, community, state, or even globally.
Conflict resolution, however, is not easy. It requires human
ingenuity, forethought, grace, wisdom, generosity, and above all,
patience, sacrifice, and magnanimity. In addition, it requires
long-term vision, and most of all, the ‘will’ to resolve differences
peacefully.
If conflicts are allowed to fester, they can bring misery and

unhappiness to all, wasting human lives, capital, resources, and
badly affecting the quality of life for all.
Conflict is simply a clash of interests; or even just a perception of
this. It may be simpler or more complex, depending on the
situation. Conflicts themselves are not an issue but the attitude
towards them and how they are perceived, is a bigger issue.
Societies have, through the course of history, evolved various
ways of resolving conflicts, such as arbitration (jirgas),
reconciliation (panchayats) or through modern parliaments, and
finally, through legal and institutional ways to reach a middle
ground between contending parties.
After a long struggle, humans have learned to develop rational

rather than emotional solutions by developing elaborate justice
systems apart from conciliation and arbitration procedures.
Though all these methods fall short of the ideal, they are often
the only options. In more advanced societies, they are far more
developed, though not yet perfect.
Conflict resolution in Islam is based on certain humane principles.
Conflicts among individuals or groups of people in Muslim

societies arose even during the Prophet’s (PBUH) lifetime, and
with much more intensity after him as life became more
complex. Take two shining examples of conflict resolution during
the life of the Prophet, namely the Mithaq-i-Madina or Treaty
(Sulh) of Hudaybiyyah. These two pacts demonstrate exemplary
principles that should continue to guide us even today.
Resolving differences — whether religious, political and socio-

economic — in Islam or Muslim societies is based on certain
humane principles. We should remind ourselves of these,
particularly in times of strife as we in Pakistan are passing
through today. Some key principles and values considered in
conflict resolution are: first, no matter what happens, Muslims
are brothers and sisters to each other, and therefore, they should
always think of each other’s good. Second, no one should
consider himself or herself superior to others, no matter on what
grounds.
The Quran is very clear about it. “The believers are naught else
than brothers [akhawaikum, implying you are all equal as
brothers]. Therefore, make peace between your brethren [should
a dispute arise]. …” (49:10). The next verse (49:11) sternly advises
not to “deride a folk who may be better than they (are) … neither
defame one another, nor insult one another by nicknames. …”.
Therefore, hating one another because of a conflict is abhorrent
in Islam.
Some, by intent, spread mischief on earth to benefit from it, but

claim they are “improving” society. God gives warning to the
community, “…when it is said unto them: Make not mischief in
the earth, they say: We are peacemakers only. Are not they
indeed the mischief-makers? But they perceive [or pretend] not”
(2:11-12).
Such guidance of the Quran clearly warns us to not indulge in

things which cause discord (fasad) in society for personal or
political gains on the pretext of (or pretending to) ‘reform’.
The third principle, I believe, is that one comes to resolve

conflicts with good intensions, honesty, truthfulness and fair
claims, and not with hostile attitude and mischief-mongering.
You focus on the issue, not on the person(s). You do not indulge in
name-calling, blaming, passing judgments about other claimants’
faith and integrity. You do not draw a line of ‘truth’ or ‘falsehood,’
iman or shirk. These are most abhorrent actions to indulge in, as
they can create animosity among “brothers” or citizens.
Many other Islamic principles deducible from the treaties of the
Prophet and his companions, reached in resolving conflicts, may
be: accommodation, compromise (specially for peace),
magnanimity, and forgiveness. Many a times, thanks to his
magnanimity, the Prophet simply compromised (take the
example of removing his title as “Rasul Allah” in the Mithaq-i-
Madina) to resolve issues and establish peace. Indeed, he was a
‘sulh jo’ (peace seeker/maker).
In sum, Islam promotes a more humane society that respects the

dignity of each person, friend or foe, taking each one as a
‘brother/sister’ for co-existence. The Prophet terms humans as an
organic body. If one limb aches, the remaining cannot rest.
Resolving politico-socioeconomic conflicts without hatred and
animosity but with humility, sense of brotherhood, dialogue, and
a win-win spirit is in the interest of all, Muslim or otherwise, as
citizens, living as we are in a modern society.
The writer is an educationist with an interest in the study of

religion and philosophy.
Read more
Comments (1)
500 characters
COMMENT MOD POLICY

M. Emad
Sep 16, 2022 07:54am
Attempts to resolve ethno-linguistic conflicts in Pakistan not

successful.
Reply Recommend 0
Education for all? - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1710375/education-for-all
September 16, 2022
PAKISTAN is a signatory to the UN Sustainable Development

Goals (SDGs), one of which obligates the country to provide
inclusive and equitable education for all. Once again, the
question has been asked: is Pakistan moving towards that goal?
An inclusive education does not discriminate by gender,

language, religion, etc. On gender, discrimination is manifest at
the outset when income constrained families spend more to
educate sons than daughters. The bias is reaffirmed when
textbooks offer limited role models for girls. It is argued that
Pakistan is a socially conservative country and most women
subscribe to the models prescribed for them. This is an assertion
made by men speaking on behalf of women who have not been
independently asked or consulted. Even if this is conceded, we
know that there is a subset of women with different aspirations.
At the very least, the Pakistani curriculum has no place for them,
reportedly not even for someone as culturally acceptable as
Malala Yousafzai. It remains an open question whether it is right
to exclude them and who is to make that determination.
There is a forgotten dimension to this discrimination. People who

are old enough remember a time in the 1960s when girls in cities
commonly cycled to their schools and colleges. No more. Once
again, it is argued that this was an inappropriate legacy of British
rule that has been rightly done away with. School education
reaffirms such limitations on the choices of women without
much public debate.
On language, the discrimination is more subtle. Children whose

home language is not English or Urdu cannot acquire elementary
education in their own language even if their parents want,
despite the global consensus supporting its advantages. Outside
of Sindh, this aspect is neither fully recognised nor debated. The
exclusion of such languages means not only their slow death but
also the withering of their associated cultures and identities.
To inhibit free expression is a form of exclusion that disproportionately
impacts those who do not belong to the majority.
On religion the exclusions are more obvious. A curriculum

cannot be inclusive when religious content of one religion is
diffused throughout textbooks prescribed for secular subjects.
This practice is justified by the argument that Pakistan is

overwhelmingly Muslim (97.5 per cent), which makes it alright to
propagate predominantly Islamic content. The difficulty with this
justification is that Pakistan was not so overwhelmingly Muslim
when it was created. It is a consequence of religious
discrimination that non-Muslims feel unsafe in the country and
many who were or are able to leave have done so. This includes
Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Bahais, Parsis, and Christians. A justification
of majoritarian values is incompatible with the goal of inclusion.
Instead of addressing this issue, the proposed solution is to have

non-Muslim students leave the class when Islamic religious
content is discussed in secular subjects. But this constitutes the
most extreme form of exclusion, one that embeds othering right
from early childhood.
One example should suffice to highlight the kinds of avoidable

issues that have been created. The Single National Curriculum
textbook for Grade 4 English has an exercise in creative writing
on page 12 in which students are asked to write a paragraph
about a religious subject particular to Islam. What is to be gained
by choosing a religious subject in an exercise of creative writing
in a class meant to teach English? It would be more inclusive to
have a neutral subject for the essay in which all children are
equally equipped to express themselves. Creativity would also be
enhanced if every student could write something personal,
instead of reproducing an approved text from which even
inadvertent deviation could be considered risky. To inhibit the
free expression of views is a form of exclusion that
disproportionately impacts those who do not belong to the
numerical majority. The obligation to be inclusive calls for
reconsidering the content of all textbooks for subjects other than
religion.
Is education in Pakistan equitable, even if it is not inclusive? This

question is easier to answer. To start with, how can it be
equitable if 40pc of school-age children are not in school to begin
with? The Constitution guarantees them a free education, but no
attention has been paid to the exclusion. If a country does not
honour its Constitution, will it pay heed to the goals of the UN?
What about the children who are actually in school? It stands to

reason that when education is offered as a commodity in the
market, those with more money are able to buy a better quality
of the product. How can education be equitable in such a
scenario? A natural outcome is that there are a limited number
of high-quality schools to reproduce the ruling classes and a huge
number of low-quality schools to reproduce the masses to be
ruled. Unsurprisingly, it is also preferred that in the face of such
inequity, the latter do not question the legitimacy of the unequal
distribution. This in turn drives the content of public school
education, whose primary aim becomes to sustain the status quo.
Hence its mind-numbing quality. Anyone claiming that a mere
curriculum can yield equitable education in Pakistan cannot be
taken seriously.
Pakistan’s school education is neither inclusive nor equitable and

is departing further from these objectives. Is this because
Pakistan’s ruling elite is just playing along with the UN? The SDGs
were preceded by the MDGs for 15 years. None were attained in
Pakistan without any analysis of the reasons for the failure.
Instead, the country signed on to a new set of goals with a fresh
lease of 15 years during which officials would continue to hold
meetings and participate in conferences. Meanwhile, the people
in whose name the exercise is being conducted are largely
excluded from the conversation. In fact, there aren’t even
comprehensible terms for MDG or SDG in any of their local
languages.
It is a surreal situation where rhetoric masquerades for reality,
which all but ensures that innocuous questions (Are we there
yet?) will continue to be asked while difficult answers (We are
going in the wrong direction) would continue to be ignored.
The writer is the author of What We Get Wrong About Education

in Pakistan (Folio Books 2022) and Pakistan ka Matlab Kya (Aks
Publications 2022).

On different trajectories
dawn.com/news/1710376/on-different-trajectories
September 16, 2022
I HAVE been spending some time in the company of education

experts from Kenya, Brazil and Pakistan this week. I’ve also had
the chance to visit a rural school in Sobral, Brazil and interact
with parents, students, teachers, principals and some education
administrators of the area. It has brought out for me even more
starkly the difference between where we are right now and
where we should really be if we are serious about educating our
children in Pakistan. Here are some preliminary reflections. I
will try to deepen some of these thoughts over the next few
articles.
Brazil, a much richer country than Pakistan, spends about six per
cent of its GDP on education. This has gone up a lot in recent
years. Successive governments, over the last decade and a half,
have taken education reforms seriously and these reforms have
started to show results as well. Though not all states and
municipalities are progressing at the same rate, there are some
significant gains in leading states. Education authorities, across
the nation, are looking to make sure these gains not only become
entrenched, but that the trends continue and progress is
achieved throughout the country.
Kenya spends 5.1pc of its GDP on education. In its case too, the
last few years have seen significant reforms in the education
sector. Education outcomes in Kenya, as of now, might not be
where the Kenyans want them to be, but the groundwork for
many reforms has been done and they are making decent
progress.
Pakistan continues to spend only about 2pc of its GDP on

education. It has one of the largest populations of out-of-school
children in the world. Education quality standards remain quite
poor for most of the children who do end up being in school — in
what has been termed ‘learning poverty’ in the relevant
literature. And we are still dealing with issues of access, dropout,
and gender disparity. Moreover, the last few years, even
inclusive of the hoopla around the launch and implementation of
the Single National Curriculum (SNC), have not seen any large-
scale reform efforts from educational authorities in the
provinces or at the federal level.
Countries like Brazil offer valuable lessons on how to reform an education
system.
Consider the following: the attention that education issues get,

the priority accorded to them by governments at all relevant
levels, the detailed work on reforms, the focus on
implementation and the importance of outcomes in
local/national debate. The difference of degree and kind between
conversations on the aforementioned areas that I have heard
experts from Brazil and Kenya engage in and what I see as the
debate on education in Pakistan, is so vast that it almost feels like
we are not even on the same planet!
A friend recently said he thought the education debate in

Pakistan, at the national and provincial levels, had collapsed
around 2018 and has not seen a revival since. According to him,
the 2011-2018 period was the heyday for education debate, after
which we have not had any really substantive conversations on
education issues. Perhaps, he said, learning losses triggered by
the pandemic and the closures due to the recent floods might
bring education back on the national and provincial agendas. But
it is still a ‘might’. It is hard to disagree with the assessment. I am
not sure whether even jolts to the system as grave as Covid and
the floods will suffice to bring about any change in the situation.
In Brazil, the main responsibility for the delivery of education up

to lower secondary, lies with the local municipalities. While the
state and federal governments — who look after the higher levels
— put in resources, ensure some standardisation, organise
procurement at scale and so on, the bulk of the work of
managing schools, teachers, school leadership and even
resources, is done at the local level. This creates a closer link
between local government and the community, as well as
parents. It makes local accountability easier and facilitates a
rapid response to changing circumstances. It also creates a sense
of competition across the municipalities. The federal and state
governments rank municipalities and use the competition aspect
purposefully.
But to place the responsibility for education on local government
does require stronger local governments. They need to have the
capacity and resources to be able to deliver educational services
effectively. The federal and state governments have to ensure
this.
Municipalities may be rich or poor. While the federal and state

governments try to redistribute resources to ensure some level of
parity, municipality level differences still exist. Nevertheless, for
all its limitations it does seem that stronger local level
governments and the decentralisation of the responsibility for
education delivery has had a positive impact on the quality of
educational services in Brazil.
Pakistan devolved the responsibility for education to the

provinces through the 18th Amendment some 12 years ago. But
delivery has remained fairly centralised at the provincial level
since then. And we do not have (effective) local governments.
The secretary education sitting in Lahore, Peshawar or Karachi
looks after thousands of schools in the province and hundreds of
thousands of teachers as well. Punjab alone has some 400,000
plus teachers working in the public sector. Would the local
community not have a better handle on issues at the local
school? We will have to think through ideas around the
devolution of education in the years to come if we want to think
of effective and efficient management of some 200,000 plus
schools and a million plus teachers.
The education debate in societies who take education issues

seriously is at a different level altogether. A few days of
interaction with experts from other countries brought this out
very clearly for me. Debate on education issues in Pakistan has
indeed collapsed. The future for education reforms, particularly
the deep and wide-ranging reforms badly needed in the sector,
looks bleak.


Women in peril - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1710370/women-in-peril
September 16, 2022
IT is highly likely that when the cumulative human cost caused

by the floods is added up a few months down the line, the toll
would be higher for women than for men. Evidence gathered in
the aftermath of a number of natural disasters around the world
clearly shows that women bear a disproportionate burden of loss
in terms of death, disease and emotional trauma. In fact,
according to the UN, “when disaster strikes, women and children
are 14 times more likely than men to die”. Take, for example, the
2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean that claimed around 230,000
lives. A staggering 70pc of them were women. The disparity
between the impact of disasters on men and women was also
observed during the Covid-19 pandemic, when deaths and
injuries from domestic abuse spiked because women, although
ironically more resilient against the virus, were locked in with
abusive partners.
In this context, while the flood may have seriously impacted

Pakistan’s economy, agricultural output and created serious food
insecurity among other things, the cumulative material, physical
and psychological impact being felt by millions of women cannot
even be measured. Having lost their homes and the privacy that
afforded, they are faced with challenges others can scarcely
imagine. In a patriarchal society where women’s needs are often
not taken seriously even by their own family members, it is safe
to assume that in these circumstances the general and specific
physiological and even medical requirements of affected women
(such as washrooms, sanitary and childbirth kits) are far from
being met. Around 8.2m women of reproductive age have been
affected by the floods, out of which around 650,000 are pregnant:
73,000 are reportedly due this month. The health of the infants
being born during this calamity is also inherently linked to their
mothers’ health. Women and children must be at the core of the
authorities’ relief and medical responses and a coherent strategy
developed with international aid organisations to address their
immediate and short-term needs.
Opinion
Dangerous turn - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1710371/dangerous-turn
September 16, 2022
OVER the years, much ink has been spilt warning against the
misuse of religion in settling petty enmities and political scores. It
is depressing to see that it has had little effect, even on those who
should conduct themselves with more restraint and maturity
than the average citizen. The new campaign to vilify former
prime minister Imran Khan on religious grounds is both
condemnable and unsettling, especially because several senior
PML-N leaders — including Maryam Nawaz herself — seem to be
quite unabashedly promoting it. Party stalwart Mian Javed Latif’s
press conference on Wednesday — in which he attacked Mr Khan
on vague grounds, repeatedly denigrated a minority community
and seemed to willfully misinterpret offhand remarks made by
the PTI chief during a recent event — made for arguably one of
the worst displays of bigotry by a mainstream political party in
recent years.
This is not to say that Mr Khan shares no blame. His frequent use
of religion has forced his opponents to play their own ugly hand.
He repeatedly invokes sacred beliefs to buttress his worthiness as
a leader and paints his opponents as lesser Muslims for crimes
they allegedly committed. It is, obviously, impossible to judge his
intentions, but if one were to consider some of his own actions, it
is apparent that he falls well short of being the righteous leader
he likes his supporters to believe him to be. He is also rather
lacking in wisdom, and his inability to clearly articulate what he
has on his mind has led to him putting his foot in his mouth more
times than one can count. This becomes particularly troublesome
when he starts speaking about religion. In a country where, in
matters of faith, a slip of the tongue can result in a bullet in the
back, one cannot always count on their privilege to save them
whenever they make a mistake. For all these flaws, however,
targeting him by calling him a blasphemer is unconscionable and
cannot be condoned. It is an extremely dangerous escalation by
the PML-N, which can expose Mr Khan to grievous harm. The
political leadership on both sides needs to de-escalate and engage
within the bounds of civility. Using the religion card against a
political opponent crosses a major red line and ought to be
roundly condemned by anyone who wishes to see a progressive
Pakistan freed from the shackles of intolerance and bigotry it has
been caught in.
Opinion
No end to impunity - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1710372/no-end-to-impunity
September 16, 2022
SOME things in Pakistan, it seems, never change. Among these is

the abhorrent ‘kill-and-dump’ policy allegedly employed by
sections of the deep state to get rid of ‘undesirable’ elements. The
discovery of the bodies of several missing persons in different
parts of Sindh over the past few days indicates that the grim
practice of ‘disappearing’ individuals and then eliminating them
illegally is alive and kicking. On Wednesday, it emerged that the
bodies of three men who had been missing for years had turned
up in various parts of Sindh. The body of Abid Abbasi was
dumped by a road in Nawabshah, while that of Wasim Akhtar
was found in a similar fashion in Mirpurkhas. Both were
reportedly MQM workers. Meanwhile Sohail Hassan’s remains
were retrieved from floodwater in Umerkot; the man is believed
to have had links with Lyari gang warfare elements. Earlier in
the week, the body of Irfan Basarat, who was also associated with
the MQM and was related to a party lawmaker, was found in
Sanghar. He had gone ‘missing’ seven years ago.
The profiles of those who go missing in Pakistan, and sometimes

end up dead, vary. They can include members of political parties,
suspected religious militants or their sympathisers, as well as
nationalist or separatist elements. The fact that this dubious
practice exists, and has continued to thrive despite the fact that
some of the highest offices in the land have slammed it, indicates
that powerful ‘invisible’ and unaccountable hands support it.
Even if it is assumed that some of the individuals picked up and
later killed had criminal or terrorist backgrounds — some of the
men found dead in Sindh were facing criminal cases —
eliminating them in extrajudicial fashion is an affront to the law.
Moreover, it is shocking that just days after the prime minister
vowed to reunite missing persons with their families, the bodies
of four missing men have turned up in Sindh. It seems as if
someone is trying to embarrass the elected government, and
mocking due process. While attending an IHC hearing on
enforced disappearances last week, PM Shehbaz Sharif said it
was his duty to trace missing persons. Clearly certain elements
are telling the government, as well as the judiciary, that they
answer to no one.
As we have stated in these pages multiple times, if the state or the

security establishment feels someone has committed a crime,
they must be brought before a court. And if the powers that be
feel the courts are ill-equipped to punish the guilty, then the
justice system needs radical reform; resorting to illegal methods
and playing judge, jury and executioner cannot be countenanced.
The IHC CJ remarked during the aforesaid hearing that he would
“summon someone else” if the Constitution continued to be
violated. Perhaps his lordship should seriously explore this
option.
Opinion
Short-sighted move
dawn.com/news/1710200/short-sighted-move
September 15, 2022
THE prime minister and cabinet’s populist decision to reject a

fresh proposal from the health ministry to raise prices of 10
medicines under ‘hardship cases’ will not benefit any
stakeholder: the government, producers or patients. Last month,
the Shehbaz Sharif government refused to increase the price of
35 medicines under the hardship category; these represent cases
where the production of a drug becomes economically unviable
at its existing fixed retail price, which then leads to its shortage
and disappearance from the market.
Over the last year, many medicines have fallen into this category
due to runaway inflation, steep exchange rate depreciation, a
sharp hike in the electricity tariff and transportation costs, etc.
On top of that, global inflation has led to a significant spike in the
cost of imported raw materials, forcing manufacturers to reduce
or discontinue some essential products because of their
unrealistically low retail prices, causing their shortage in the
market. The void created by the unavailability of these essential
medicines is encouraging an influx of spurious, and in some
cases smuggled, products into the market at great expense to
public health safety. With drugmakers having exhausted their
raw material inventories, it is being feared that more drugs will
vanish from the market unless the government allows a price
increase to compensate the manufacturers for the hike in their
production costs. As painful as the uptick in price will be for
many, medicine shortages can be even more distressing as can be
seen with Panadol, a commonplace drug used to treat aches and
fever which is presently hard to find. People then end up paying
much more than the medicine’s fixed price in order to get their
hands on it. If the government wants to help the vulnerable
segments of society, it should learn to regulate drug prices by
encouraging market competition rather than through price
administration. For a longer-term resolution, the health
authorities could impose a levy on manufacturers’ turnover to
fund provision of free medicines to the poor.
Opinion
KP bombings - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1710201/kp-bombings
September 15, 2022
CLEARLY, the fiction that ‘all is well’ in KP — particularly in the

province’s merged tribal districts, and those areas which were
worst affected by terrorism — is unravelling fast. Two separate
blasts were reported in the province on Tuesday and these
violent incidents, seen together with other recent episodes linked
to militancy, point to the troubling reality that the terrorists are
back. A number of people, including policemen as well as the
former head of a local peace committee, lost their lives when
their vehicle was targeted by a remote-controlled bomb in Swat’s
Kabal area. The banned TTP, which claimed responsibility for the
atrocity, said they had been waiting to strike ex-peace committee
head Idrees Khan for the past 13 years. The tribal elder had
played a major role in mobilising locals against the militants. In
another attack, a police station was targeted in Kohat while seven
workers of a mobile phone company were kidnapped in Swat.
Moreover, three soldiers were martyred in the Kurram tribal
district after they reportedly came under fire from Afghanistan,
while late on Tuesday security forces were attacked in Khyber’s
Jamrud area.
The bombings, attacks on security forces and kidnappings in the

affected area should put the state on alert, as remaining in denial
mode will only add to the worsening law and order situation.
Last month, after protests against the militant threat were held in
parts of KP, the military’s media wing had dismissed this threat
as “exaggerated” and based on “misperception”. However, as the
recent violence indicates, the militant threat has moved from
“misperception” to painful reality. In a recent KP Assembly
session, an opposition MMA lawmaker said over 400 armed
attacks had been reported this year, resulting in the loss of over
300 lives, while extortion activities were also in full swing.
Moreover, security men have been kidnapped, while a sitting
MPA belonging to the PTI survived a deadly militant attack in
which several people were killed. It is apparent that the ceasefire
the government had reached with the TTP is in tatters, and the
militants are not in a peacemaking mood. The state must clarify
what the status of these negotiations is, while the civilian and
military authorities must tell the nation what they intend to do to
ward off the militant threat. KP’s people have been through hell
and back thanks to unchecked militancy, and they cannot be left
to the mercy of such murderous elements.
Opinion
Khan’s gamble - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1710202/khans-gamble
September 15, 2022
THE PTI has been acting coy ever since a television host, while
promoting an interview of former prime minister Imran Khan,
triggered a new round of speculation over the army chief’s
retirement. The interview had been publicised with the claim
that Mr Khan had proposed an extension for the incumbent. The
controversy started well before the interview even aired,
although it later became clear that no direct statement was ever
made to this effect. That would have been the end of it had the
PTI itself not encouraged further speculation. It avoided issuing
any clarification, opting for prevarications instead. One senior
PTI leader criticised the TV host for “deliberately misquoting” Mr
Khan, while another applauded him for presenting a “practical
formula” to restore democracy. The PTI chief then muddied the
waters further, saying he had not sought an ‘extension’ but a
‘deferment’ of the new chief’s appointment — even though there
can be no deferment without the army chief first being given an
extension.
Several commentators sympathetic to Mr Khan have gloated that

he has delivered an “in-swinging yorker” to his opponents.
Others have asked, slyly, why it was that this particular interview
was allowed to air when Mr Khan’s speeches and fundraisers had
been blacked out. His opponents, on the other hand, have
criticised the sudden abandonment by the PTI chief of his ‘anti-
establishment stance’ and for taking a U-turn on his erstwhile
position on extensions and appointments. Whatever the
reactions, the consensus is that Mr Khan has made an attempt to
appease the military.
It bears remembering that one of the reasons the PTI chairman
was ousted from power by the PDM was that he was believed to
have settled on one particular general as the next army chief.
Having been deprived of the privilege, Mr Khan recently
returned the favour by stoking controversy over the soon-to-be-
due appointment, claiming that the “corrupt and degenerate”
PML-N and PPP leaders would only appoint someone who would
go easy on their ‘criminality’. This new proposal to give the
incumbent army chief an extension till the next general election
appears to be the PTI chief’s latest roll of the dice to win back the
establishment’s favour. It remains to be seen what will come of it.
It is, however, extraordinary to see tenure extension being used
so openly as a bargaining chip. To have leadership be subject to
the whims of a select few cannot serve any institution well; least
of all the military, which prides itself on its professionalism. The
repeated granting of extensions has ill-served the army. It has
only deprived many equally if not more deserving candidates of
a chance to lead. It is time the practice is done away with through
necessary legislation. No individual needs to occupy the seat for
any longer than the length of tenure originally considered
suitable.

Opinion
High time for review
dawn.com/news/1710203/high-time-for-review
September 15, 2022
PAKISTAN may be grappling with devastating floods, but the

menace of terrorism has not receded. In the latest spate of
terrorist attacks, at least six people, including a former peace
committee head and two policemen, were killed when a remote-
controlled bomb struck their vehicle in the Kabal tehsil in the
Swat valley. A statement claiming responsibility for the attack by
the outlawed TTP effectively ends the ceasefire earlier
announced by the militant grouping.
Pakistan has paid a steep economic and political price since the
onset of the global ‘war on terrorism’ in 2001. A report by Brown
University’s Costs of War Project notes that war-related violence
has killed 65,000 people in Pakistan in the last 17 years, including
23,000 civilians, 9,000 security personnel, and 90 US contractors.
In terms of measuring the impact of terrorism, the 2020 Global
Terrorism Index prepared by Australia’s Institute for Economics
and Peace ranks Pakistan seventh (for greatest impact), after
Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Syria, Somalia, and Yemen (in that
order), and followed by India, Congo, and the Philippines. Having
Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan among the top 10 in this
category is not an encouraging sign for regional
counterterrorism efforts.
The measures taken by the Pakistani civil and military

leaderships to counter violent extremism (CVE) can broadly be
categorised as: militant de-radicalisation and rehabilitation
programmes, drafting reforms and updating laws, and national
security policy measures.
How effective are CVE programmes?
Overall, the rehabilitation programmes have been a major

success in Pakistan’s efforts toward CVE, with some tangible
results. A major factor in this is targeting the detained militants
and sectarian extremists who surrendered. The state adopted an
incentivised approach by offering religious and vocational
training and soliciting help from psychologists and religious
teachers.
CVE is a wide-ranging term that describes initiatives to reduce

the spread of violent extremist ideologies espoused by Al Qaeda
and similar terrorist networks. The Obama administration used
the phrase in 2011 in its policy paper, Empowering Local
Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States.
Eleven years down the road, the term CVE and its related
concepts still have to gain currency and acceptability,
particularly in Muslim-majority countries.
There has yet to be a comprehensive, credible evaluation or
large-scale assessment of CVE programmes in Pakistan. Major
concerns raised about CVE include: its premises and assumptions
are imported; theories of radicalisation are applied broadly;
religious communities are over-targeted; and that select religious
figures or organisations are prioritised. Finally, say critics, CVE
programmes do not provide accountability for human rights and
civil liberties violations.
CVE policies were shaped and seen as effective preemptive

measures to halt violent extremism before it is manifested. How-
ever, based on threat perceptions, these policies provide
governments with some kind of justification to target political
opponents, protesters, and activists; bypass judicial procedures;
and violate basic human rights.
Steven Hawkins, former executive director of Amnesty

International USA, said that the international diffusion of CVE
frameworks raises the prospect of repressive governments
“taking advantage of ‘CVE-mania’” and “using international
funds to violate human rights in the absence of appropriate
safeguards”. Amnesty International even stated that: “Brick by
brick, the edifice of rights protection that was so carefully
constructed after the Second World War, is being dismantled.”
Most of the communities, local leaders, or youth engag-ed

through CVE programmes are selected on the criteria of their
perceived vulnerability to extremist ideas, already promoting or
supporting extremist ideals, and/or their position of influence
over the local communities. When communities are asked to
participate in programmes based on assumptions of their latent
criminality, any claims of ‘buy-in’ are manufactured. Amnesty
International has reported that CVE programmes have not been
responsive to community input or insights and critiques from
civil rights and civil liberties groups.
It’s not about dismissing the whole CVE edifice. Countering and
preventing violent extremism is essential to create an enabling
environment for societal peace. Before we take further strides to
devise our CVE policy and ensuing implementation, there is a
dire need to first review and assess the impact (whether positive
or negative) of the multiple actions already taken in the realm of
CVE by the government and civil society. We must determine
what works for the purpose, and what does not. Scrutiny of CVE
measures nationally and internationally must be demanded.
The writer is a consultant and researcher working on social issues,

including building resilience and cohesion in stressed communities.
rashad.bukhari@gmail.com

King in waiting - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1710204/king-in-waiting
September 15, 2022
IT has taken 64 years and 44 days for him to become King Charles
III. No heir apparent in history has had a longer period of
training nor ascended a throne better equipped. If he lives as
long as his mother did, he has another 22 years to accomplish
everything he has sought to achieve during that lengthy
apprenticeship.
Charles, then Prince of Wales, made his only visit to Pakistan in

November 2006. I, as the honorary British consul, Lahore, had
the privilege of attending on him and his wife Camilla, Duchess
of Cornwall. It was my second lengthy encounter with royalty. I
had performed a similar function for the late Queen Elizabeth II
in October 1997.
Such proximity gave me a deep respect for the professionalism of
the royal family. Their visits were planned well in advance. The
reconnaissance team from Clarence House, for example, arrived
in Lahore on Sept 25, 2006 to plan the programme.
The focus of the prince’s visit was interfaith dialogue. Just as his
father Prince Philip had found his vocation in conserving wild
life, Prince Charles found intellectual escape in promoting
interfaith communication. He knew that one day he would be
both head of the Church of England and also monarch of a
multiracial, multi-religious kingdom. He declared his intention of
amplifying the scope of his title as ‘defender of the faith’ to
‘defender of faiths’.
He knew he would be monarch of a multi-faith kingdom.
Clarence House asked me to be moderator of the interfaith

dialogue the prince would chair. The governor Punjab, a retired
military officer, thought otherwise. First, he denied entry to the
advance party to enter Governor House. (‘Would they allow me
into Buckingham Palace without notice?’) He then replaced me
with an inarticulate secretary Auqaf.
High Commissioner Mark Lyall Grant invited my wife and I to

meet the royal couple in Islamabad at a reception on Nov 2. We
watched as Charles and Camilla moved seamlessly through the
crowd, exchanging places so that the 200 guests on the upper and
lower terraces had a chance of seeing, if not speaking to them.
I had left two of my books on Lahore and Pakistan for them. They
contained illustrations done by 19th-century visitors. The next
morning, when I received the couple at Lahore airport, I had
barely introduced myself when the prince thanked me for the
books, adding: “I greatly enjoyed reading them. I particularly
liked Prince Waldemar’s sketches.”
It was during their tour of the Badshahi Mosque that I received

an insight into his well-honed professionalism. A phalanx of
photographers had taken pictures of the couple against the
backdrop of the mosque’s grand façade. When they had appeared
to have finished, he beckoned that I should join him. I did.
Suddenly, the cameras came into action again. There was a

succession of blinding flashes which unnerved me. “How do you
cope with this, sir?” I asked him. He replied: “I’ve had to endure
it since birth. One gets used to it.”
After a quick visit to the Samadhi of Maharaja Ranjit Singh

(which my ancestor Fakir Nuruddin had built between 1839-49),
we met again in Governor House for the interfaith dialogue.
The instructions from Clarence House could not have been more
precise. They specified that ‘The Governor will invite the Prince
of Wales to enter the dining room from the side door of the Ivory
Room. Taking the entry point at 6 o’clock, the PoW will be at 9
o’clock of the round table. He will meet the participants, starting
with the person at 8 o’clock and continuing anti-clockwise to his
own seat.’
Each of the round table dialogue participants was given three to

four minutes to speak. They found it difficult to control their
volubility.
The Prince spoke without notes. He began by saying that

different faiths had more difficulty with the press than with each
other. He spoke of the Islamic Advisory Group he had set up.
Dialogue was easy at a table; the challenge lay in
implementation. While all great religions shared a vision of the
same Ultimate Truth, he felt ill-informed leadership was the
cause of strife between communities. He described his
continuous interaction with the Al-Azhar University in Cairo,
which had awarded him an honorary doctorate.
He spoke in this philosophical vein for about 10 minutes. He

concluded by remarking that what he had said came not from
any profound scholarship, but from the heart.
At the conclusion of the dialogue, Prince Charles passed me. He

shook my hand and whispered: “I was told about the change. But
I wish it had been you.”
Everything that royalty says is remembered by everyone they

meet. King Charles will be, as he has been, circumspect in speech,
regal in mien, and more than charged to propel the British
monarchy into the 21st century.
The writer is a former honorary British consul, Lahore (1995-

2022).

Failing our minorities
dawn.com/news/1710205/failing-our-minorities
September 15, 2022
TWELVE-YEAR-OLD Zarviya left her home in Rawalpindi with a

couple known to her family, who said they would take her to buy
a Mother’s Day gift for her mother. She never returned. Her
parents later found out that she had been kidnapped, drugged,
and married to a 35-year-old man, and she was no longer
Christian — her parents’ faith — but Muslim. This is the lived
reality of an increasing number of families in Pakistan who
belong to minority faiths.
There is a paedophilic emergency in Pakistan, and this particular

one targets young girls from communities of religious minorities.
Almost all the victims are young girls, who are kidnapped,
threatened, and blackmailed. Zarviya was told by her kidnappers
that if she tried escaping or complaining, her brothers would be
killed. Imagine the horror this young child must have had to go
through.
The issues of sexual violence against children, discrimination

against minorities and misogyny intersect to create this specific
issue that is increasingly pressing, but the state of Pakistan
continues to fail minority communities.
Just last month, the Sikh community in Buner, Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa took to the streets to protest against a similar
incident where it was alleged that a 25-year-old teacher was
forcibly converted and married to a Muslim man. Earlier in
March, a 17-year-old Hindu girl was shot dead in Rohri, Sindh
after resisting an abduction attempt by Muslim men. The Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan estimated that in 2018 alone, at
least 1,000 cases of forced conversions were reported.
The issue of forced conversions of minority girl children has serious
ramifications.
What is unique is that victims are almost always young girls from
minority communities. Under the veneer of doing a religious
service of conversion, what is actually happening is that older
men are targeting minor girls with impunity. How come we
never hear of young boys or men being forcibly converted?
Impunity, because the law against forced conversions was

rejected by a federal parliamentary committee in October 2021
and no further progress has been made on it due to pressure
from the very perpetrators and their allies. In Sindh, where it has
been passed, it remains unimplemented, with judges cowing to
pressure to favour the abusers.
Impunity, because in much of the country there is no law against
child marriage. Conservative parties who oppose such a law
seem to want to continue the horrible practice of young children
being married. Only Sindh, in 2013, managed to pass a law
outlawing marriage under the age of 18 for both boys and girls.
However, as per a Population Council report titled Child
Marriage in Sindh: A Political Economy Analysis,launched in
December 2021, Sindh has seen an increase in the incidence of
child marriages, especially of girls under 15. Clearly, the
executive and judiciary are not ensuring implementation of the
law.
Pakistan accepts the legal definition of a child as any individual

under the age of 18, in line with the UN’s Convention on the
Rights of the Child (CRC). Nevertheless, as per the Child Marriage
Restraint Act, 1929 and Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961, the
minimum age for marriage for boys is 18 and for girls 16 years
everywhere except Sindh — which is contradictory.
Impunity, because despite forced marriages being illegal,

especially of children, courts continue to provide relief to
abusers who kidnap young girls from minority faiths and
forcibly marry them. The judge on the Lahore High Court’s
Rawalpindi bench reportedly dismissed Zarviya’s case within
one-and-a-half minutes by declaring it a consensual marriage.
How can a 12-year-old child consent to marrying an adult? How

can a 12-year-old consent to changing her religion? How can a
12-year-old be away from her parents’ guardianship? How can a
12-year-old be anywhere but in school?
The issue of forced conversions of minority girl children has

serious ramifications.
First, this is a violation of the inherent dignity of children and
their families guaranteed by Article 14 of the Constitution, as well
as the right to religious freedom guaranteed by Article 20.
Second, this has a huge impact on the education of minority

children whose families are hesitant to send their daughters to
schools and colleges out of fear of them being kidnapped and
forcibly converted, in violation of Article 25-A. I have heard this
fear expressed firsthand by members of minority communities.
Third, this violates the fundamental rights of children who are

guaranteed basic security and liberty as per Article 9. It also
violates Article 11 (outlawing slavery and forced labour) as many
girls are trafficked and forced into sex work, as documented by
the Peoples Commission for Minorities Rights.
Fourth, this fear compels minority communities to leave Pakistan

despite this country being their home. If the entire system is
failing to protect them, how can they accrue citizenship rights?
Fifth, in failing to protect minorities, the state is not only

violating its constitutional duties, but also its commitments
under international law — including the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights — as well as Pakistan’s commitments
to improve human rights protection under the GSP+ status. The
latter is accorded by the European Union for trade and tariff
concessions.
The violation of the children’s innocence, their abduction for

sexual exploitation and the helplessness of the parents who are
denied custody of their minors, should serve as a wake-up call
for the state. Religious parties and the Council of Islamic Ideology
should condemn the criminal behaviour of actors that forcibly
convert and marry children, instead of invoking consent — the
importance of which is never highlighted even in the case of
adults who choose to marry consensually.
Parliament must legislate to outlaw forced conversions and child

marriages, and the judiciary and police must resist pressure
from perpetrators to prevent them from safeguarding the rights
of minority communities.
Zarviya deserves a childhood with her parents and the right to go

to school, not a childhood scarred by exploitation and rape by an
older man. Let us ensure Pakistan is a safe home for all, rather
than completely failing those represented by the white in the
flag.
The writer is director of Bolo Bhi, an advocacy forum for digital

rights.
Twitter: @UsamaKhilji

The great wave - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1710206/the-great-wave
September 15, 2022
“You don’t believe the sky is falling until a chunk of it falls on you
….”
It is said art and literature are timeless. Be it a modern quote

from feminist writer Margaret Atwood (above), or a haiku from
the 17th-century Japanese master Bashō, these literary and
artistic inspirations are relatable by humankind in different
cultures and geographies, as well as across the centuries.
One of the most iconic artistic images from Japan is thought to be

the 19th-century woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusaititled
Under the Wave off Kanagawa (also known as The Great Wave).
Hokusai’s masterpiece depicts a giant rogue wave, suspiciously
akin to a tsunami, engulfing three fishing boats in a storm-tossed
sea, with Mount Fuji in the background.
The terrified fishermen desperately cling to their boats, with the

towering wave’s outstretched and menacing ‘claws’ threatening
not just the fishing boats but sacred Mt Fuji itself in the distance.
The image of the giant wave threatening to devour everything in
its path, yet paused in time and space, encapsulated in ‘arrested
movement’, is a timeless masterpiece. While Hokusai’s
woodblock print was part of a series depicting Mt Fuji, it came to
contextualise a time of great uncertainty for Japan.
Unprecedented inflation and floods on a biblical scale have buffeted an already
fragile polity.
The scene depicted in Hokusai’s masterpiece was not the first or

last time a weather-related event came to define a historical
epoch. Closer to home, both in time and geography, the
devastating cyclone of 1970 in then East Pakistan was a defining
moment in history too. The unimaginable destruction caused by
the cyclone, and the perceived apathy of West Pakistan, is
believed by historians to have been the final nail in the coffin of a
united Pakistan.
If there was one iconic image capturing ‘the moment’ in

contemporary Pakistan, one wonders what it would be. Millions
left adrift in the aftermath of the floods? People protesting their
electricity bills amidst absent power? A middle-class housewife
on the brink of despair while tearfully narrating how she is
unable to make ends meet?
Floods are not new in Pakistan; even the ‘biblical’ ones, it now
seems. Nonetheless, the scale of destruction caused by the
current disaster is truly staggering. More pertinently, on this
occasion, the floods have come at a time of crushing inflation,
domestic polarisation and high discontent at the political
shenanigans of a disinterested elite.
From Dhamial to Karachi, people are angry and protesting — and

the anger is palpable and rising. They are protesting against their
marginalisation, their electricity bills, the cost of living, the
apathy of the official machinery to the flood victims. From
modest living rooms in urban centres to the backwaters of Sindh,
a mass of people appears to have had enough.
Will this prove to be our ‘let them eat cake’ moment? A jaded,
cynical view would be that the country has witnessed many such
‘moments’ in the past, without posing any challenge to an
established, toxic political order.
While natural disasters past and present, such as the 2005

earthquake or the 2010 floods, have repeatedly exposed our
governance failures — not just in terms of planning,
implementation or building capacity and resilience, or in
domestic resource mobilisation — the 2022 version is appearing
to be more man-made than natural. It is also brutally exposing to
the dispossessed, disenfranchised and marginalised something
much more foundational: that they have been saddled with a
self-interested, self-absorbed elite that just couldn’t care less.
They are witnessing this not just in the response to the floods, but
also in the ease with which a political class and their backers
have passed the crushing ‘burden of adjustment’ under IMF
conditionality on to the poor. A large part of the pent-up anger
and frustration is coming from the surging cost of living.
Inflation has swelled to never-before levels, with inflation for
lower-income households, as depicted by the food-weighted
Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI), spiking to an unprecedented 45.5
per cent as of Sept 1.
While inflation over the past few years has received impetus
from a confluence of factors, including exogenous ones, the
recent momentum post-April has come mainly from steep
increases in administered prices of petrol, diesel and electricity
tariffs.
As the masses are being impoverished and the middle class

decimated due to the surging cost of living, the insulated and
comfortably numb elites have celebrated the taking of ‘difficult’
decisions to secure an IMF deal. Unsurprisingly, the impact of the
measures taken is very different for the haves and the have-nots.
The elite worry about whether the next vacation abroad should
be in the UK or closer to home, such as Turkey or Dubai, given
the rising cost of travel. The poor and the vulnerable worry about
hunger, the cost of schooling, their inability to afford life-saving
medicines. The saddest part is that while inflation may abate, its
after-effects for vulnerable households may be anything but
transitory. High inflation for protracted periods can push
borderline households into inter-generational poverty.
While the floods may end up thrusting into poverty many of the
upwards of 30 million (mostly rural) people affected, food
inflation at current levels has been estimated by the Asian
Development Bank to impoverish over 25m people. Even after
accounting for the overlap, the numbers are staggering.
As in the case of a tsunami, we are being buffeted by the first
waves of disaster. Mass migration into cities of the hungry and
dispossessed flood-affected people will follow, coupled with food
shortages and the attendant second wave of inflation. At the
same time, the economy will be groaning under the weight of
stabilisation policies, unable to create jobs — or stop joblessness.
The perfect storm will only unleash further waves of discontent.
It is unlikely that impoverishment and discontent on the scale we

will witness will fail to produce over time a tectonic shift in
Pakistan’s political landscape. Like the fishermen in Hokusai’s
masterpiece, we can only gape in terrified suspense at the great
wave before us.
The writer is a former member of the prime minister’s economic

advisory council, and heads a macroeconomic consultancy based
in Islamabad.

Dirty mountain - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1710039/dirty-mountain
September 14, 2022
IT is an experience no mountaineer wants or expects: the sight of

heaps of trash and the stench of refuse left behind by expeditions
past. Adventurers who visit Pakistan wishing to scale one of its
many tall peaks come looking for unforgettable experiences —
for challenges that test their grit and determination, for the
breathtaking vistas from the roof of the world, and for a journey
that is described almost reverentially as ‘deeply spiritual’. Yet,
despite a major effort in the last few years to woo foreign
tourists, it appears that our authorities are not prepared to
adequately cater to these needs. Due to official negligence and a
lack of responsibility on the part of climbers and their teams, the
path up to the summit of K2 has now become littered with waste.
This is a shame, as it will undoubtedly turn away people from
visiting again in the future.
This year was a record in terms of the number of people who

turned up to summit the mighty peak. However, it now
represents a lost opportunity because of the negative message
that went out to the world after many alpinists ended up
complaining of widespread pollution on the world’s second-
highest mountain. However, there is time still to fix the issues
that have plagued Pakistan’s tourism industry. It is important to
involve local communities in the clean-up effort — especially
porters, who are an integral part of every expedition. It is
important to impress upon them the need to keep our natural
wonders pristine. These locals should be asked to lead the effort
to protect the landscape, with the state providing incentives to
compensate for their effort. These could take the form of, for
example, an additional ‘preservation tax’ on licences granted to
summit the various mountains, which is then spent on local
communities’ needs. Such partnerships have worked very well in
the past: one only needs to look at the successful conservation
efforts to protect markhors and snow leopards for inspiration.
Opinion
Dengue emergency - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1710040/dengue-emergency
September 14, 2022
A DENGUE emergency is looming, and judging from the inertia

on the authorities’ part, it is likely to get much worse. According
to Federal Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman, there has
been at least a 50pc increase in the incidence of dengue all across
the country. With hundreds of cases being reported each day,
especially from Karachi — where hospitals have reportedly run
out of space to accommodate dengue patients — the situation is
dire. Nevertheless, there is still little sign the authorities are
addressing the issue with the attention it deserves. According to
Sindh government data, there have been around 3,300 cases of
dengue in Karachi this year; of these 1,066 have been reported in
September alone. Meanwhile, scores of cases are also surfacing
daily in Rawalpindi and Lahore, while more than 200 patients on
average are testing positive for dengue each day in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. Alarming as these numbers are, they nevertheless
grossly underrepresent the true scale of the growing epidemic.
Since dengue fever is a viral infection, health experts estimate
that at least 70pc of the patients do not need to be admitted to
hospital and are treated through out-patient visits to doctors
without undergoing lab test confirmation. In fact, some experts
estimate that the number of patients being treated for dengue
symptoms on any given day in Karachi nowadays is in the
thousands.
Given the gravity of the situation, one wonders what is

preventing the authorities from doing the bare minimum, which
involves draining rainwater and carrying out repeated
fumigation campaigns. In this regard, Karachi Administrator
Murtaza Wahab’s tweet on Monday about a fumigation drive in
28 union councils in Karachi seems quite ironic. If this had been
done earlier, perhaps the spread of the disease could have been
curtailed to some extent. It is not as if the government is
unaware of what is to be done since dengue outbreaks have for
the past decade become a perennial problem that emerges after
every monsoon season. However, the intensity of the rains this
year and the disruption of health infrastructure caused by the
floods portends a dengue outbreak many times worse than usual.
The authorities need to stop dawdling and reapply the lessons
learnt in 2011 from beating a tenacious dengue outbreak in
Lahore. They must carry out repeated fumigation drives in all
affected areas until all mosquitoes are eradicated, while ensuring
that rainwater does not accumulate on the streets.
Opinion
FATF & militancy - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1710041/fatf-militancy
September 14, 2022
TWO recent developments — separate but both related to

militancy — require the attention of the state as lack of action in
these matters can cost the country dearly in economic terms,
along with disturbing internal security. The first issue concerns
FATF, the multilateral anti-money laundering and terrorism
financing watchdog. A delegation of the Asia/Pacific Group on
Money Laundering, a FATF affiliate, was recently in the country
to monitor compliance with the watchdog’s requirements. It has
noted that Pakistan’s level of effectiveness is “low” on 10 of 11
anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terror
goals, even though the country is compliant with 38 out of 40
technical recommendations. While this is not expected to block
Pakistan’s exit from the FATF ‘grey list’ when the body holds its
plenary next month, it would be in our best interests to ensure
all requirements are met so that there are no lacunae which
hostile actors can exploit to keep Pakistan on this unenviable list.
While it appears Pakistan is consistently being asked to ‘do more’

on terror financing, we have little choice in the matter. Among
the areas flagged for improvement is the need to investigate and
prosecute those involved in money laundering; FATF also wants
improvement in the prosecution of individuals involved in terror
financing, and the disruption of their networks. Pakistan —
already facing an economic crisis compounded by the
devastating floods — simply cannot afford to ignore this matter,
as being put back on the grey list will impact the country’s ability
to attract foreign investment and trade freely with the world.
That is why the state must do all possible to take Pakistan off the
grey list permanently. That said, the foreign powers that are
influential in FATF must also deal with Pakistan’s case on merit,
and not be swayed by geopolitical considerations or the influence
of states hostile to this country.
The second issue of importance concerns the return of militancy

in KP’s merged tribal districts and their adjacent regions. The
issue was recently raised in the KP Assembly, with opposition
lawmakers hammering the PTI’s provincial government for its
‘poor’ response to the renewed threat. They pointed to the rising
incidents of gun attacks, targeted killings and extortion in the
sensitive area, while it was also said that militants were roaming
around freely in parts of the province. One ANP member went as
far as to accuse the provincial administration of playing the role
of “Taliban facilitator”. Also, families from Tirah in Khyber
district have started to flee after TTP fighters were reportedly
spotted in the region. Moreover, Tuesday’s bombing in Swat’s
Kabal area indicates that such fears are not unfounded. The state
can ill afford to ignore these warning signs. There must be
transparency vis-à-vis the status of negotiations with the TTP,
while under no circumstances should space be given to these
bloodthirsty actors to do as they please.

Opinion
After the queen - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1710042/after-the-queen
September 14, 2022
BEYOND the sometimes grating obituaries and pending

obsequies, the demise last week of the British monarch has
sparked a more interesting conversation in nations still
constitutionally wedded to a deservedly obsolete empire.
The shock and dismay over the demise of a nonagenarian can

more or less be dismissed as hyperbole. Sure, Elizabeth II wasn’t
on her deathbed when she gave the obligatory nod to her 15th
prime minister earlier last week — and it may be a mite cruel to
claim that endorsing Liz Truss proved to be the final straw.
It was well known that the relevant institutions had long been
prepared for the biological imperative, and instantly kicked into
mourning mode as soon as it was advised that London Bridge
was down — the widely recognised code for an inevitable
demise. In fact, there was an early warning: as many of us
instantly suspected, chances are the queen had already passed on
by the time Buckingham Palace declared that she was
comfortable and under medical supervision at Balmoral.
The aftermath is well-documented, although the speed with

which republican feelings surfaced in many of the 14 nations
that still haven’t completely cast off the shadow of colonialism
might have caused some surprise. The prime ministers of
Australia and New Zealand, both republicans, declared that now
wasn’t the time to talk about constitutional change, but more
than one Caribbean state flagged its inclination to follow quickly
in the footsteps of Barbados, which became a republic last year
— at a ceremony where King Charles III, still a prince at the time,
acknowledged “the appalling atrocity of slavery”.
There’s a reckoning Britain isn’t quite prepared for.
That’s commendable, even if it fell short of recognising the

wealth accumulated by a select few British families, including his
ancestors, from the slave trade, let alone the economic
depredations inflicted on the colonies after the abolition of
slavery. The so-called Commonwealth has always been some-
thing of a travesty, given that the transfer of wealth was
invariably unidirectional. There was nothing ‘common’ about it
even after most of the colonies opted for independence.
Elizabeth was never an empress, as the empire had already

substantially receded by the time she inherited her father’s
crown in 1952. But the African colonies remained intact, and her
majesty presided over the brutal repression of the rebellion in
Kenya, insurgencies in Malaya and Oman, and the British side of
the violence in Northern Ireland.
It’s easy to claim that the queen wasn’t responsible for any of
this. It was ‘her majesty’s governments’ that set and carried out
policies, including foreign policy, and her job was merely to smile
and nod, and to meet and greet prominent visitors from near and
far, including a number of tyrants, without betraying her
emotions. That’s where her much remarked-upon dedication to
her ‘job’ and sense of ‘duty’ come in, evidently. Occasional
instances of humour — which never veered into the kind of
racism or classism that her husband periodically exhibited —
were invariably pounced upon as evidence of her charm as just
another human being.
Which is all very well, but fails to explain her privileged status,
based on little more than an accident of birth. The monarchy sits
at the apex of a hierarchical society where feudalism has been
superseded but also incorporated by the capitalism that followed.
Her (and now his) majesty’s loyal opposition has arguably
trumped the government in its determination to kowtow to the
established order — and those questioning it are being taken into
custody. That’s as far as free speech goes before cancel culture
steps in.
Its most fervent defenders often forget, or simply don’t know,

that Windsor Castle wasn’t named after the ruling family. It was
the other way around, more or less. Until 1917, the dynasty was
known as the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. That year, during
World War I, a German aircraft known as the Gotha G.IV began
bombing London, which prompted a name change.
The German connection didn’t go away, though. Edward VIII,
who succeeded George V, had to be cast aside not only due to his
infatuation with an American divorcee, but because both he and
she were enamoured of a German dictator by the name of Adolf
Hitler. Images of the princesses Elizabeth and Margaret
practising the Nazi salute at the behest of their uncle, with their
mother proudly looking on, emerged some years ago. It would be
unfair to hold that against the late queen, but it’s worth noting
that many of her husband’s relatives were excluded from their
wedding in 1947 because of their Nazi links.
The pomp and pageantry being exhibited in Britain today,

leading to next Monday’s funeral, exceeds any show that the
remaining European monarchies might put up. Their ruling
heads are also a travesty, but it might take Britain’s eventual exit
from the royal zone to disrupt the continent’s infatuation with
crowned heads of state.

Brotherly Afghanistan?
dawn.com/news/1710043/brotherly-afghanistan
September 14, 2022
ON September 7, Pakistan defeated Afghanistan in a thrilling

cricket match in Sharjah. The Afghan popular reaction to this
defeat was intense, and puzzling. Why did the Afghan people
exhibit such a strong dislike for Pakistan? After all, Afghanistan
had lost matches to most other teams as well. Ordinarily, this is
not an issue of much consequence, but this has triggered a wider
debate, first on social media, then the think tanks and academia,
and now almost everywhere to understand what is wrong with
this bilateral relationship.
Some analysts tend to trace the roots of this uneasy relationship

to the complicated history of the region. The Mughal rule over
large parts of Afghanistan, Afghan raiders who ventured into
northern India, the Sikh rule which pushed back the Afghans,
and then the Anglo-Afghan wars had generated an accumulated
bitterness that eventually manifested itself in the Afghan refusal
to accept the Durand Line as the border between Afghanistan
and Pakistan. Most historical accounts reveal that the Durand
Line of 1893 was based on a consensus reached after some give
and take.
However, present-day Afghans contest that fact. After 1947, in

Afghan narratives, Pakistan came to epitomise the ‘enemy’ that
the Afghans must fight to assert their nationhood and reclaim the
lands that they thought were theirs, notwithstanding the fact that
Pakistan had not negotiated the Durand Line and only inherited
it from British India as the border with Afghanistan.
It, thus, came as no surprise that Afghanistan became the only

country to oppose the membership of Pakistan to the United
Nations, though it withdrew its objections subsequently. In later
years, the Pashtunistan issue was raised by some Afghan rulers,
disregarding the fact that Pashtuns on the Pakistan side of the
border were more numerous than in Afghanistan, which in fact
is a multi-ethnic society.
A majority of Afghans are bitter about Pakistan.
Beyond the historical context, the Afghan hostility further

emanates from the recent past. In the last four decades, first the
Soviet and then American occupation of Afghanistan led to
millions of Afghans losing their lives and millions more
displaced. Allowing the ‘Afghan jihad’ to nurture in Pakistani
territory, participating in the US-led war on terror, and giving
refuge to millions of Afghans have altered the very fabric of our
own society; indeed, we paid a heavy price to liberate
Afghanistan from foreign occupation. Even so, Pakistan and its
government unreservedly helped the Afghan nation by opening
our doors and hearts for millions of its people who have, ever
since, lived in Pakistan, studied in Pakistani universities,
received treatment in Pakistani hospitals, and enjoyed Pakistan’s
hospitality in every other respect.
Yet, today we find the majority of Afghans bitter about Pakistan.

We need to introspect what went wrong despite Pakistan’s
consistent desire to have brotherly ties with the next-door
neighbour.
In the wake of 9/11, when the US invaded Afghanistan, and the

Taliban chose to resist the occupation, Pakistan argued that a
political solution rather than a military victory should be the
preferred option. The Americans finally decided to engage with
the Taliban, and after a deal, they left Afghanistan. The Afghan
government and its national army sponsored by the US fell
almost instantly. During these two decades, the governments of
Ashraf Ghani and Hamid Karzai extensively bashed Pakistan and
even played the India card against it. There are reports that India
invested heavily in Afghan media to create the image of Pakistan
as an enemy of Afghan people, downplaying the enormous help
the country had extended to Afghan governments, traders,
students, and even their cricket team. A whole generation of
Afghans has grown up influenced by this propaganda.
So, what can Pakistan do to manage the unsettling relationship

with Afghanistan? One way forward is to treat Afghanistan as a
normal, independent, sovereign country, similar to the bilateral
relationships we wish to have with other neighbours and
beyond. In no case should Pakistan speak for the present or
future rulers of Afghanistan. Our political leaders should hold a
candid dialogue with Afghans that peaceful coexistence, strong
economic relations, and robust counterterrorism cooperation are
in the interest of both countries.
In line with Pakistan’s desire to prioritise geoeconomics, the

focus of our interactions with Afghanistan should be on bilateral
trade, Afghan transit trade, and connectivity with energy-rich
Central Asia and China. A robust economic relationship builds
peace constituencies and restores trust. When the people of
Afghanistan see the tangible economic benefits emanating out of
its relationship with Pakistan, mutual trust will set in. We need to
be patient and pragmatic, and avoid hollow expressions of
brotherhood. Let actions speak louder than words.
The writer, a former foreign secretary, is director general of the

Institute of Strategic Studies and author of Diplomatic Footprints.

The crown and the colony
dawn.com/news/1710044/the-crown-and-the-colony
September 14, 2022
THE queen of the United Kingdom died almost a week ago. News
of her worsening health had been lingering for a while; she
withdrew from some of the platinum jubilee celebrations to take
rest, and did not participate in many public events. Last week,
however, things suddenly appeared more ominous when various
members of her immediate family were seen rushing to Balmoral
Castle in Scotland, where she was staying. When Prince Harry
and Meghan Markle, the British monarchy’s currently
controversial couple, rushed to Scotland, it appeared imminent
that the long reign of Queen Elizabeth was about to be over.
The aftermath of the queen’s death, at the age of 96, has been
both expected and unexpected. The pomp and fanfare of the
British monarchy continues to endure, at least in the attention it
gets from the international media. Even before the queen was
dead, there were live broadcasts from the gates of Balmoral
Castle, and everything that happened after was covered minute
by minute. The sheer length of her reign means there is no
dearth of dramatic moments to memorialise and mourn, and the
week of media coverage appears to have covered each one. Not
soon after the queen’s passing, Prince Charles, cooling his heels
no more, was crowned King Charles III and was finally able to
deliver the coronation address he must have rehearsed for over
half a century. The British media and their American mimics
made much of the fact that the British could once again sing “God
Save the King” — you know... because there was once again a
king.
Those, however, were the expected goings-on of the official

narrative, one in which the British monarchy was still regaled as
having brought railroads and civilisation to the rest of the world.
That world is no more, transformed as it has been by the
emergence of social media, whose tentacles allow even the most
ordinary of opinions, that at the very least have the possibility of
ruining a king’s day, to be aired. On those digital streets
belonging to the world’s plebeians, where there are no borders
and the entry fee is a WiFi connection, there were immediate
rumbles of discontent. It was all very well the British wished to
mourn their queen and sing praises of the unifying character of
their monarchy, this view held; but they could not expect similar
adulation by the rest of a world that had markedly different
memories of her reign.
Within hours the internet had erupted in anger that the queen, who presided
over an empire built on loot, was being mourned as if she were a saint.
On Thursday, even before the queen was officially declared dead,
Nigerian-American Professor Uju Anya posted: “I heard the chief
monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying.
May her pain be excruciating.” Later, Anya in a second tweet
said: “If anyone expects me to express anything but disdain for
the monarch who supervised a government that sponsored the
genocide that massacred and displaced half my family and the
consequences of which those alive today are still trying to
overcome, you can keep wishing upon a star.” Anya may have
been one of the first brave survivors of colonial mayhem to speak
the truth about the monarchy; despite criticism, she would not be
the last. Within hours, the internet had erupted in anger that the
queen, who presided over an empire built on loot (let us not
forget, even the diamond in her crown was stolen from India),
was being mourned as if she were a saint. Soon, both Twitter and
TikTok were full of people speaking about the atrocities of the
British Empire. Many spoke of India and how Partition and its
ensuing hatreds, long cultivated by the British, continue to
impact the lives of people living in the subcontinent to this day.
In a day or two, the counternarrative had spread to the
mainstream media. On the cable news channel MSNBC,
American author Richard Stengel noted: “You played a clip of her
speaking in Cape Town in 1947… That’s the year apartheid took
effect… British colonialism, which she presided over… had a
terrible effect on much of the world.” On British television, the
noted anti-colonial intellectual Shashi Tharoor reminded the
whitewashers of Empire how they never taught colonial history
to their own people, noting its particular absence from the A-
Level history curriculum.
The response in Pakistan remained largely meek. It was
depressing to see many of Pakistan’s elite, the enduring ‘brown
sahibs’, actually pretend to mourn the queen whose forbears
ensured that Pakistan and India would remain at daggers drawn
for the foreseeable future. The worst were graduates of Oxford
and Cambridge, who posted notes of condolence to the monarch
as if the monarchy would check to see if they were appropriately
servile and obsequious. It was disgusting to see this drama,
whose reach is such that most Pakistanis today are unaware that
it was the British who put in place many of the economic, social
and legal mechanisms — for instance, the feudal system — that
are the source of much dissension and depredation in
contemporary Pakistan.
It is heartening to see the conversation about monarchy starting

to transform. Enduring monarchies in former colonising
countries such as Britain and the Netherlands only serve the
purpose of revising the brutality of colonial conquest and the
creation of systems that would ensure the poverty and
dependence of post-colonial nations for many generations to
come. In this particular instance, it was incredible to see the
death of a queen who presided over a racist and unjust system
being used as a moment to educate the world about what exactly
she represented. As for all the Pakistanis who clamoured to post
condolences for the emblem of a system that saw them as little
more than apish brutes, a person or a system does not become
automatically good, or worthy of respect, by the fact of their
passing. The queen is dead; I hope the system of corruption and
looting, of occupation and genocide that she represented
perishes too.
philosophy.

The summit and expectations
dawn.com/news/1710045/the-summit-and-expectations
September 14, 2022
THE Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit is being

held this week in Samarkand against the backdrop of a
geopolitical upheaval challenging the world order. It will be the
first in-person meeting since 2019 of the SCO’s Council of Heads
of State, and takes place in the shadow of the Russia-Ukraine war
and growing tension between the United States and China. Both
Russia and China are members of the forum.
Meanwhile, the end of the US war and return of the Taliban

government in Afghanistan — which has observer status at the
eight-member SCO — has hugely impacted regional geopolitics.
The conclave will provide an opportunity for the leaders to
discuss regional and global challenges and reach some
understanding on the common goals and objectives,
notwithstanding the conflict among member countries. Prospects
of multilateral cooperation are expected to be discussed at the
Samarkand meeting, but of major interest is what happens in
sideline meetings.
The event will mark the first occasion in a long time that
Pakistani and Indian leaders will come face to face. Both
countries are members of this Eurasian political, economic and
security organisation that covers 40 per cent of the world’s
population and 30pc of its GDP. With Iran expected to become a
full member, the SCO will be further expanded. Regardless of
conflicts among the members, the SCO has provided a useful
forum for cooperation on many issues. Bilateral meetings on the
sidelines of the conference can also help break the ice.
The Samarkand summit is taking place at a time when the border

conflict between India and China has heightened regional
tensions. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese
President Xi Jinping will be in each other’s presence after a gap
of two years. They may also be meeting on the sidelines. It is, to
be sure, rather significant that they agreed on troop
disengagement along the Line of Actual Control just prior to the
summit.
The SCO conference is taking place at a critical time in an atmosphere of fast-
changing geopolitics.
Relations between New Delhi and Islamabad remain frozen with

no sign of a thaw. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif will be leading
the Pakistani delegation. There is lot of speculation about the
possibility of the prime minister meeting his Indian counterpart
on the peripheries of the two-day conference. However, there is
no confirmation yet of any parleys between the two.
However, an unpublicised interaction can never be ruled out. A
major concern for Mr Sharif is the domestic fallout of any such
interaction with the Indian leader. A politically unstable
government facing huge economic challenges cannot afford to
get involved in any controversy at this stage.
That was, perhaps, also the reason for Foreign Minister Bilawal
Bhutto to not meet his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam
Jaishankar at SCO’s Council of Foreign Ministers’ meeting in July
this year. The two even avoided handshakes despite being in the
same room. They made it a point to sit away from each other.
Curiously, however, both sides refrained from attacking each

other in their speeches at the meeting. It was argued at the time
that despite a “long history of war and conflict”, the Indian
government’s actions in India-occupied Kashmir and its anti-
Muslim agenda, it was not in Pakistan’s interest to remain
disengaged. But, given India’s intransigence over the Kashmir
issue, there is no hope yet for any breakthrough and
normalisation of the relationship.
It is also not clear whether the Indian prime minister would take
any initiative for a bilateral exchange. After the Samarkand
meeting, the presidency of the SCO will go to India which will
also host the next summit meeting in 2023. Surely, Pakistan will
be invited.
Perhaps the most significant event will be the scheduled meeting

between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Chinese
president, the first one after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
While China has expressed solidarity with Moscow, it has not
endorsed the invasion. Moscow seeks to bolster ties with Beijing
after being slapped with unprecedented Western sanctions over
its actions in Ukraine.
Both Moscow and Beijing are challenging American domination

not only in the domain of geopolitics but also in geoeconomics.
That has brought them closer into a strategic alliance. Issues
related to security and stability, the energy and food crisis and
economic cooperation are expected to dominate the discussion at
the summit and in the peripheral meetings. The inclusion of Iran
in the fold will also broaden the scope; having been under US
sanctions for a very long time, the country would support any
move to strengthen economic ties among the SCO countries.
Afghanistan will sit in the conference as an observer, the first

time it will do so after the Taliban takeover. Although none of the
SCO members have recognised the hardline regime in Kabul,
most of them favour maintaining close interaction with the new
government. There are, however, serious concerns over the
return of a regressive order in the country.
The Taliban have reneged on all the promises they made to the
international community to allow women access to education
and work. One year on, the plight of women has only worsened.
Another concern is the continuing presence in Afghanistan of
militant groups that directly threaten the security of the SCO
countries. Those concerns are expected to be raised in the
conference and in peripheral interactions with the Afghan
interim foreign minister, who will be leading the country’s
delegation. There is no possibility of the Taliban regime being
granted full membership of the grouping.
Notwithstanding interstate conflicts, the SCO over the past
decade has cooperated in many fields, including
counterterrorism. Most importantly, collaboration in the health
sector in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic has been significant.
There has also been some progress on expanding trade and
connectivity among the SCO member nations.
A strong Eurasian alliance is not only imperative for economic

cooperation but also for regional security. The Samarkand
conference is taking place at a very critical time in an
atmosphere of fast-changing geopolitics. It is not just what would
be discussed at the formal sessions, but perhaps more important
is what happens at the sideline meetings.

No perfect storm - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1709867/no-perfect-storm
September 13, 2022
THINK of a product(ion) — a book or poem, a movie or song, a

painting or sculpture — as a ‘text’: something tangible that can be
unpicked, researched and, as such, the strands of meaning
interpreted.
To whom does a text of importance truly belong? Is the use of it

and its legacy the prerogative of its creator, the person(s) who
brought to life something out of nothing? Or does it belong to its
audience and the inheritors?
One is tempted to immediately reply ‘the former’ — that’s why

copyright and patent laws exist. But if only the world could so
neatly fit into either/or boxes.
Karachi’s Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture is currently
holding an exhibition of alumnus Asim Butt’s (d. 2010) “early
works as a student [...] where he was constantly experimenting
[...]. This is evident from works that appear preparatory [...],
probably ripped out of larger final works”.
Does genius belong to its creator, or to posterity?
The key words in the description above from the IVS invite are:
“ripped out of larger final works”. I wonder whether he would
have been sanguine with the display and sale of work that he
chose not to exhibit. Surely, the creator of any text must be
afforded the right and respect to let remain hidden from the
public discourse that which they chose to leave out. Would Asim
have considered cannibalism of sorts the exposure of his very
private journey to art?
‘Perfect storms’ arise from an unpredictable and often unlikely

confluence of factors. What I’m writing about is the opposite.
Described here is an all-too-common, and hugely tricky,
predicament that applies — overwhelmingly, posthumously — to
so many. Does genius belong to its creator, or to posterity? When
a text is considered of enough influence to merit a place in the
‘sum of human knowledge’, is not humanity at large, then, the
rightful heir?
Delineate, here, between what the creator of a text themselves

chose to not put on (or remove from) the public record, and what
may have long remained undiscovered. There is a difference: the
first is deliberate; the second is happenstance.
A parallel case, on a much larger scale, is also playing out these

days. On Sept 1, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
premiered on Amazon Prime, to be devoured by 25 million
viewers (according to Amazon) during the first 24 hours. But
there is much concern amongst those that care about Tolkien’s
legacy. The series is almost exclusively based on just a few dozen
pages in just one of the appendices of the books, meaning (to
quote Michael D.C. Drout in the New York Times) “almost the
entire plot [...] has been created by Amazon Studios’ writers and
showrunners [...]. Is it fair [...] to build franchises from their
works without their knowledge or permission?”
Tolkien was fiercely protective of his work. He sold film rights

only when absolutely forced to by a tax bill. The television rights
were sold to Amazon by his inheritors. And the problem is
encountered (so to speak) not just by the departed: Drout, a co-
editor of Tolkien Studies and chair of the English Department at
Wheaton College in the US, cites the cannibalisation of the work
of George R. R. Martin and J. K. Rowling, even though the creators
of these texts are alive and, in the case of Rowling, were involved
to some extent in the conversion to visual media.
The world has through technology or private drafts or notebooks

or so many other means discovered what artists of critical
influence chose to leave out of their finished oeuvres. Prince
chronicled through music a host of his innermost musings, but
kept them private. After his death, dozens were found locked in
vaults and bootlegged; many are now in the public domain.
Would he be aghast? It may not sit well with Ghalib that verses
and strands of inquiry he relegated to the bin are now the subject
of meticulous scrutiny and publication.
But, such invasive research plays a part in understanding the

creative process: the trials, frustrations, and endless revisions
that underpin any text. This enriches not just the sum of human
knowledge, but also keeps alive the remarkable talent that
produced it.
So, who is the rightful proprietor? Does, in the end, the legacy
outstrip its creator, the finished whole becoming more than the
sum of its parts, the text eclipsing the man? And if that is the
case, what is there to prevent it from being prostituted or
defiled? As in the case of Tolkien, and many others, including
Michael Jackson, familial inheritors do benefit monetarily, even
if prompted by altruistic motives.
Should genius be respected and allowed to keep its secrets? Or be

put under the unforgiving microscope of research for what good
it may do? Would that easy answers were forthcoming.
The writer is a journalist and anthropologist studying media,

culture, and religion.
hajrahmumtaz@gmail.com

Stop facilitation
dawn.com/news/1709868/stop-facilitation
September 13, 2022
IN counterterrorism (CT), ‘facilitation’ is much talked about, but

the community’s role in discouraging facilitation and successfully
investigating it are least understood. Militancy-infested societies
may have hundreds of facilitators, but sympathisers may be
many more. Effective CT needs clarity in distinguishing between
facilitators and sympathisers.
Facilitation may be defined as assistance provided to a banned

person or a banned militant organisation through active
involvement in a non-conventional crime falling under the Anti-
Terrorism Act (ATA). That includes provision of food and shelter;
assistance in reconnaissance of a target; arrangements to further
the execution of an act of terrorism, such as renting vehicles and
buildings; providing technical support and procuring fake CNICs,
SIMs, fake IMEIs, weapons and explosives; helping with border
crossing, assistance in pre- and post-attack situations; and acting
as a bridge between the offenders and their handlers.
Facilitation converts the militants’ aims into reality. However,

sympathisers have no active role in the commission of scheduled
offences under ATA. They disseminate hate material and the
militants’ narrative through social media and pamphlets.
Facilitators work actively, while sympathisers usually remain
dormant and silently support a narrative. Facilitators may
provide services either for ideological or monetary incentives
and may be affiliated with a militant organisation or a criminal
gang.
Why do individuals become facilitators? If they’re drawn by an

alluring narrative offered by extremists, then what is the
national counter-narrative? If there is any counter-narrative,
why did it not effectively counter the radical ideology? Why is
the community reluctant to share information about facilitators?
In the absence of any operational apparatus for community
policing, how can the community be kept motivated to cooperate
with police?
Most terrorist acts involve assistance from others.
Prevention of terrorism warrants understanding of the dynamics

of facilitation. What are the minimum requirements for suicide
terrorism? For the furtherance of a terrorist act, there are three
main prerequisites: (1) intent (2) access to weapons or explosives
and (3) access to an enemy target. Mere intent may not suffice, as
access to weapons and enemy targets require facilitation at
certain stages. In most suicide bombings, the jackets and
explosives were made and supplied by others.
It is difficult for an individual to simultaneously be an expert in
bomb-making and an attacker. However, access to technology
has facilitated aspirants in finding online recipes for bomb-
making: thus, it is imperative for regulatory authorities to block
access to such websites.
The prevention of facilitation was incorporated in para 2 (d) of

the UN Security Council Resolution 1373, which asserted that all
states shall “prevent those who finance, plan, facilitate or commit
terrorist act from using their respective territories for those
purposes against other states or their citizens”.
In Pakistan, after the APS attack, there was a realisation of the

need to detect, deter and detain facilitators. The National Action
Plan missed incorporating any direct reference about measures
against facilitators. However, ATA 1997 covers certain aspects of
facilitation. In 2013, through Section 6(2)(a) in the ATA,
facilitation was brought within the definition of a terrorist.
Section 11A was also inserted in 2013 which said that if an
organisation is involved in ‘facilitation’, that will be considered
an act of terrorism. Section 21(I) and (J) deal with punishments
for aid abetment and harbouring.
ATA’s Section 21H explains the admissibility of a confession in

front of a police officer not below the rank of superintendent;
however, it has been observed that courts often regard such
confessions with suspicion and the benefit goes to the accused. To
ensure conviction for facilitation, it is essential to understand the
real essence of Section 21H, and give due legal weight to
statements recorded in the presence of an SP.
Discouraging sympathisers needs a more clearly defined and
amplified counter-narrative. That is not possible without
community outreach and active media engagement. Deterring
facilitation warrants public information and education.
Community policing is key to a vigilant and safe neighbourhood,
which helps in preventing facilitation.
Sympathisers may be discouraged by strictly denying extremists

space and time and preventing glorification of extremist
narratives in the media. Effective steps against religious
persecution will also discourage sympathisers. An effective check
on facilitation requires registration and monitoring of the
business of property and car dealers, hotels, and inns, and timely
sharing of information about tenants, guests, and transactions
involving vehicles.
The idea of severing the nexus between terrorists in remote

areas and their facilitators in urban areas needs instant
conversion into reality.
The writer is author of Pakistan: In Between Extremism and Peace.
Twitter: @alibabakhel

Is India-Pakistan peace around?
dawn.com/news/1709869/is-india-pakistan-peace-around
September 13, 2022
IS the prospect of India-Pakistan peace becoming visible on the

not too distant horizon? The hopeful query springs from sporadic
signals, including some of international import, and a lot of
guesswork, important enough to stick one’s neck out. Indian and
Pakistani prime ministers will be in Samarkand on Thursday to
participate in a two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation (SCO). Uzbekistan, where Samarkand is, has a
history of nudging India and Pakistan to terminate their mistrust.
The 1965 Tashkent Agreement may not have been to Z.A. Bhutto’s
liking but it did bring closure to a needless war between the two
neighbours.
Equally important from the SCO’s perspective is the fact that
India will be the host of the annual meet next year, which Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, presumably, would want to be a
successful bash. Obstructing the potentially grand diplomatic
dream is Delhi’s current patch of strained ties with China and the
strategic doldrums swamping relations with Pakistan. Above all,
the persistent US resolve to torpedo the SCO, of which China and
Russia are the ideological lynchpins, not to speak of the summit
in Samarkand, which is expected to produce an alternative
narrative to the Ukraine conflict and other global issues, remains
an ever-present concern.
Should things go well in Samarkand, an SCO summit in India

could become a key element in Mr Modi’s third consecutive re-
election bid in 2024. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, on his part,
needs urgent relief from the combined effects of the political
quagmire his ruling alliance finds itself in, deepened by the
natural calamity striking the country in its most furious and
devastating avatar in recent memory. Both pose a challenge to
the tenuous alliance politically, which means more economic
instability. Niggardly but optically handy moral support from the
US with spare parts for F-16s could be a signal and a ploy ahead
of the SCO meet.
The US is committed body and soul to Ukraine in its conflict with

Russia, and is in a mental state that Jamey Falls would have
identified with. Older former alumni would remember the school
teacher at La Martiniere in Lucknow, chiefly the occasions when
he was distracted from his lectures. “Give him what he wants,
man. Just don’t disturb the class.” So went the legendary counsel
from Mr Falls to the occasional horseplay on the back benches,
mostly involving Anglo-Indian boys, which he found distracting.
The US in a similar manner is pressing everyone it can, to not
disturb the class, shepherding everyone along to forgo their
respective ongoing tiffs, for example, by notably bearing down
on Serbs in the former Yugoslavia to ease up their standoff with
ethnic rivals. The US quite possibly needs to see a suspension of
sullen aloofness in South Asia too to get all sides to single-
mindedly display empathy for its narrative of the trauma
unleashed on Ukraine. Its public intent to weaken Russia or even
destroy it economically seems to have recoiled, however, and is
said to have only strengthened Vladimir Putin’s hold on the
country.
If the horse befriends the grass, it could face starvation. Hatred for Pakistan has
been an article of faith with Hindutva.
Going by the prospects in view, the SCO summit could set the
tone for the next steps in the European conflict that has brought
the global economy to its knees. The India-Pakistan equation is
integral to the peace agenda. In this regard the east-west lobbies
would not find much to disagree on. Mr Modi would be closely
watched for his interactions with Russian and Chinese
presidents, who both will be encouraging if also watching his
widely expected interaction with Pakistan’s prime minister.
Sprucing up Pakistan’s F-16 warplanes should struggle to chip
away at the proximity Pakistan has acquired with the China-led
club of Asian nations plus Russia. The SCO was created to push
back against precisely these moves from the west. Luckily both
sides seem to have a need to bring the two countries close
preferably (or cynically) without paring down their gargantuan
inventories for military hardware. Some positive military
disengagement and a promise of more, similar measures on the
Sino-Indian border may have been planned to time with the
Samarkand meet.
Yet who can deny the oversized fly in the ointment, when it
comes to India-Pakistan rapprochement? If the horse befriends
the grass, it could face starvation, an agreeable Urdu saying goes.
Hatred for Pakistan has been an article of faith with Hindutva. Its
cohorts in India’s ruling establishment would gasp without the
putrid air of perpetual hostilities. Hindutva would starve without
the required animus with Pakistan. On the other hand, Hindutva
is not unknown for leaning on opportunism as a political tool. It
can kill people for eating beef in one part of India, and not
impose any such fiat in others, notably in Goa and Manipur.
Moreover, there is something about Nawaz Sharif and his party
that Indian leaders find easier to work with. The Lahore summit
and the unannounced gatecrashing by Modi at a Sharif event a
few years ago bear witness. There is also considerable business
interest in India in opening trade ties with Pakistan, which is
seen as a conduit to Central Asian linkages. Remember that
there’s always some mysterious businessman supposedly
representing the government and fixing things for Delhi while
being parked in a Lahore hotel. It was the late Dhirubhai Ambani
who dispatched a message to Gen Pervez Musharraf, presumably
through an important player in Washington D.C., to not mistreat
Sharif.
Could the summit in Samarkand nudge both countries to resume

their stalled dialogue once again? It’s pure speculation at present
but not bereft of compelling logic. Reviving the Saarc meet that
was due to be held in Pakistan before the advent of Mr Modi
could become an attractive proposition from an economic
perspective. For domestic politics too, divisive tactics are losing
their currency. Peace with China and Pakistan could set the cat
among the pigeons for a perennially underprepared opposition.

Beyond the rescue - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1709870/beyond-the-rescue
September 13, 2022
THE floods are wreaking havoc, as one-third of the country has

been covered in water. The impact on the country, the economy
cannot be emphasised enough. The media has also woken up
from slumber and is covering the disaster in detail and yet… the
sense of urgency is far less than it was during the pandemic.
Is it simply because some parts of the country have not been

impacted? This could be one reason, for at the beginning of the
pandemic the threat had seemed equal for us all, and it was so
not just in Pakistan but the world over. Perhaps that is why the
danger felt more imminent, and as a result so did the efforts to
tackle it.
But another reason for this is also that this time around, politics
has not come to a standstill. The rallies, the jalsas and the tough
talk against political rivals continues; not just the PTI, but also
the government seems to have more time for verbal showdowns
than the floods.
Just consider: Khan has been holding jalsas to push his kahani
ahead. He has also held telethons to raise money but it’s the
jalsas that catch more attention.
We need serious and public conversations about how Pakistan will cope with
climate change in the future.
At the same time, his court appearances have kept the media
busy. What the judges said and what they remarked and what the
lawyers argued too have kept the focus diverted from the floods.
And then there is the ECP. As with the courts, the friction with the
PTI and the resultant cases all make it seem as if it’s business as
usual. It is worth considering why the ECP’s decision to postpone
the by-elections was based on the floods but few bought the
reasoning. For too many, this just appeared to be an excuse.
The government has to take its share of the blame also. There are
still far too many media talks on PTI and Imran Khan and not
enough on the floods. If ministers are taking time out during the
day to hold forth on the Toshakhana and express their worries
about Khan’s big, bad intentions about the armed forces, it might
not be able to convey to the people that the destruction caused in
the past two months should be — and is — the state and society’s
biggest worry.
Parliament is yet to hold a special session to discuss the floods.

And one can only assume the government will brief
parliamentarians on the matter on the same day. According to
newspaper reports, this is still under consideration and a final
date is yet to be announced.
The prime minister has made numerous trips to the flood-

affected areas but while that is highlighting the plight of the
survivors, the visuals are not enough to explain the phenomenon
of climate change. After all, what has happened this year cannot
only be about rescue and relief operations. This is not to say that
the rescue and relief operations aren’t and should not be the
priority but there should be some indication that there is some
brainstorming and working beyond this.
Read: Flood notes
Just consider that yesterday the government finally announced a

digital dashboard to provide information, but apparently this is
only to ensure transparency in the provision of relief. “It will
provide direct information to the general public about the
financial support and the relief goods being received and
distributed among the flood-affected people across the country,”
says a story from Dawn. It is hard to say if information about
water, the rains and floods will also be provided here for an
integrated, one-stop website for all things related. This too should
be a priority.
But more than that, we need conversations about what this

calamity means and what needs to be done. Conversations about
the changing weather pattern: why were there excessive rains in
Sindh and Balochistan and how was this different from 2010?
Why did this happen and whether or not this will continue in the
future? Should we expect a similar pattern next year? Will 2023
just mean a return to the old weather pattern or even less rain
than usual? No one really knows, but it is a conversation that has
to be had. So far, only a few climate change experts are speaking
about it.
And at the same time, there has to be a very serious and public
conversation about how Pakistan will cope in the future. While
everyone welcomes international visitors — whose trips can and
will bring some much needed aid for relief — we really must
show resolve on how to address this in the long term. Even if by
some miracle reparations come our way, what will we do with
them? How will the water management system be improved?
Does the building code need changes, and how, especially in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa? What can be done about the excessive
rains in Sindh? Is it possible to make plans to drain the water if
and when excessive rains take place? And before then, who will
make the plans for evacuating people in the face of future
calamities? Can this be planned and done without local
governments?
Is the only answer really to build dams, as suggested by the chief

of army staff? Dare one ask if this is a policy statement? Why are
the politicians not highlighting the specific measures which need
to be taken?
It is simply not enough to ask the international community for

help and then bemoan the lacklustre response. (And lacklustre it
is. In the face of simply the damage which according to
government estimates is $10 billion, the pledges so far have been
in the millions.) Perhaps, we should have specific mitigation and
management plans which require funding. For once, the efforts
put in after the immediate crisis is over must be even greater.
The work for it should begin now: only then will the sense of
urgency be communicated within the country and beyond.

Asia Cup final - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1709863/asia-cup-final
September 13, 2022
DESPITE their victory over the same opposition just days earlier,
Sri Lanka still went into the Asia Cup final against Pakistan as the
underdogs. It was a match that seemed Pakistan’s to lose but for
the second time in three nights, the tournament favourites went
down without a whimper and missed out on a chance to win the
continental crown for the first time in a decade. Sri Lanka had
sounded a warning on Friday, winning the Super Four clash
between the two teams that had largely been reduced to a dress
rehearsal for the final. Pakistan did not heed it. On Sunday, they
once again came unstuck, dashing the hopes of their expectant
nation. For Sri Lanka on the other hand, their well-deserved
victory spread joy in their recession-hit country.
The manner of Pakistan’s defeat, though, was troubling. The toss

has been crucial at the Asia Cup, and when Babar put Sri Lanka
into bat after winning it, the odds were stacked firmly in
Pakistan’s favour. The pacers’ early burst put Pakistan well and
truly on top but midway through the Sri Lanka innings
everything started going quickly downhill. Faced with a stiff 171
to win, Pakistan once again used their sluggish, safety-first
strategy that puts pressure on a middle order which can’t be
expected to deliver every time. This time, it didn’t. The upcoming
England series offers a chance to experiment and address those
issues, but Saqlain Mushtaq’s contention in the aftermath of the
final that he sees no problems with the team’s strategy means
Pakistan will once again be heavily reliant on the top three —
Babar, Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman — to provide
them with a solid, albeit slow, start. It was a scintillating cameo
from Mohammad Nawaz that saw Pakistan down India before
tailender Naseem Shah’s blitz secured a thrilling triumph over
Afghanistan. Those wins had raised hopes that Pakistan’s name
was written on the trophy. Instead, it’s Sri Lanka who are taking
it home.
Must Read
Why the PTA’s move to register VPNs should concern us all
Usama Khilji
The issue with the PTA’s vision of the internet in Pakistan is that
it only views it from a security and business lens, completely
ignoring citizens' basic rights.
Poll postponement
dawn.com/news/1709864/poll-postponement
September 13, 2022
THE ECP’s reasoning for postponing by-elections just days before

the first few seats were to be contested has not held up under
scrutiny. Citing the “unavailability” of Pakistan Army, Rangers
and FC personnel due to their engagement in flood relief
operations, the ECP had on Sept 8 expressed its inability to
conduct elections in a “peaceful environment” without them.
Based on that reasoning, it had announced that polling for 10
National Assembly and three provincial assembly seats would be
held on other dates, “when the situation improves, and law
enforcement agencies are available”. However, these
explanations seemed like an eyewash to many, and the political
parties affected by the postponement of polls were justified in
feeling frustrated. Most of the constituencies going to by-polls
had not been severely impacted by floods. Even if a few
constituencies had been affected, the ECP could have considered
granting a postponement on a case-by-case basis rather than
issuing a blanket order. The ECP may have been cognisant of its
weak reasoning, because it repeatedly underlined the
unavailability of armed forces personnel as its main reason for
postponement. However, this sounded like an unreasonable
argument given that the by-elections were spread over the length
of the country, split in three rounds and were to be held in just 13
constituencies. The human resources requirement could not
have been as substantial as to affect ongoing flood relief
operations in any meaningful way. It should also be asked why
the ECP seemingly gave short shrift to civilian law-enforcement
personnel for polling day security duties.
Yesterday, the ECP announced that by-polls for three PA seats and
one NA seat (NA 157) would now be held on Oct 9. The date for
by-polls for the remaining NA seats, however, will be decided on
Sept 14. One of the NA seats (NA 246) is no longer expected to be
contested as the PTI lawmaker who occupied it has had his
resignation overturned through the IHC. It is disappointing,
however, that even with the new schedule, the commission has
only expressed a “hope” that all institutions will be available for
polling day duties on the announced dates. The democratic
process should not be subject to the availability of the armed
forces. In choosing the easy way out of what should now be
routine logistical challenges for the commission, the ECP has only
stirred controversy and allowed its critics to assail its integrity.
Must Read
Usama Khilji
Debt swap proposal
dawn.com/news/1709865/debt-swap-proposal
September 13, 2022
UN Secretary General António Guterres has made an

impassioned appeal for substantial debt relief for developing
nations. At the end of his ‘solidarity visit’ to Pakistan, he pledged
to strongly advocate ‘debt swaps’ with the IMF and World Bank,
as well as at the G-20 meeting, to enable poor and middle-income
countries, including Pakistan, to use that money to invest in
climate resilience, sustainable infrastructure and green
transition of their economies instead of paying back loans to the
creditors. Terming the flood devastation triggered by
unprecedented monsoon rains and melting glaciers as “climate
carnage”, Mr Guterres repeated that the relief he was talking
about was “a matter of justice and not of generosity”. Before his
departure for New York, he asserted: “Pakistan has no resources
to compensate for the loss of lives, crops and livestock. Those
who have created this situation must massively support the
country.”
Pakistan’s total external debt and liabilities have already surged

to 39.7pc of the GDP or $130.2bn, and its debt servicing jumped to
over $15bn during the last fiscal year, hampering growth and
development as the country is left with little to spend on the
social sector and on disaster management. That’s not all. The
country is virtually in a debt trap as it has to borrow more
money every passing year to pay back its debt and support its
budget. The IMF has forecast Pakistan’s external financing needs
to be just below $31bn for the present financial year, and
projected them to increase to $39.1bn by FY27. The enormous
economic losses and food shortages caused by massive flooding
mean that the external financing needs to spike significantly in
the near to mid-term, forcing the government to borrow more to
pay the swelling import bill and stay liquid in the face of
declining foreign currency reserves.
Should the multilateral lenders and the wealthy nations agree to

the UN secretary general’s proposal, it would provide a chance to
many countries like Pakistan to wriggle out of the debt trap,
stand on their feet and pull their citizens out of abject poverty.
The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative launched in 1996
by the IMF and World Bank with the aim of ensuring that no
poor country faces a debt burden it cannot manage, did not, for
several reasons, create the impact it was initially expected to.
However, it did help beneficiary nations boost their spending on
infrastructure, education, health and other social services.
Indeed, debt relief or forgiveness is not a sustainable solution to
our liquidity problem. Yet there is a fair chance a positive
response to the call for debt swaps by the UN secretary general
would provide countries like Pakistan, facing recurring climate-
induced disasters on top of extreme financial difficulties, some
room to increase their spending to fight the effects of natural
disasters on their citizens and economies.
Must Read
Usama Khilji
Orange Line inauguration
dawn.com/news/1709690/orange-line-inauguration
September 12, 2022
AFTER over six years since the project was launched, Karachi got
its second multicoloured bus rapid transit line to chug off on
Saturday. The Orange Line, named in honour of iconic social
worker Abdul Sattar Edhi, will ferry commuters over a stretch
measuring nearly four kilometres between Orangi Town and
North Nazimabad. It follows the launch of the Green Line BRTS
that hit the road in January of this year, connecting Karachi’s
northern suburbs with Numaish, the gateway to the city’s
commercial area. However, both the Orange and Green lines
were massively behind schedule, while in the case of the latter
the cost ballooned to double the Rs16.85bn original estimate. Yet
in a city where the public transport system is highly inadequate
for the needs of a modern, bustling metropolis, we must be
thankful for these small mercies.
The federal government, which planned and executed the Green

Line, and the Sindh administration, which is responsible for
constructing the Orange Line, must not rest on their ‘laurels’ and
speed up work on the other bus corridors. Work is underway on
the Red Line, while the Blue, Yellow and Brown lines are still on
the drawing board. Meanwhile, a modernised Karachi Circular
Railway, or an alternative commuter train system, remain the
stuff of dreams. The Sindh government has launched a Peoples
Bus Service, but there are serious questions about the reliability
and punctuality of this facility. The fact that the megacity of
Karachi — or as some have put it, a conglomeration of cities —
has for decades not had a modern transport system is criminal,
and both the federal and Sindh governments are equally guilty of
the sin of neglecting this forsaken metropolis. Citizens should not
be happy with the status quo — a bus line every decade or so,
rickety buses and ‘Qingqis’ for a city of millions. They must
demand that the rulers give this city a 21st century public
transport system that puts emphasis on comfort, affordability,
connectivity and dignity.
Opinion
Deep divisions - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1709691/deep-divisions
September 12, 2022
SOCIAL hyperpolarisation, gradually becoming apparent not just

in developing democracies but also in the more evolved ones, has
emerged as a matter of grave concern for policymakers
worldwide. The Human Development Report 2021-22, issued by
the United Nations Development Programme, explores it in
detail, finding that the deep divisions we see in our communities
today are borne of human insecurities that have metastasised
due to the rapid economic, social and political shifts brought
about by advancements in information technologies. The report’s
findings will seem quite familiar to anyone in Pakistan who has
noticed with concern the alarming rise in political polarisation,
deepening social divisions, religious and general intolerance and
deepening mistrust between the citizenry and the state. Indeed,
our country, with its many systemic problems, seems to have
provided particularly fertile ground for social polarisation
triggered by the arrival of digital media. The chasm between the
haves and the have-nots had always been wide, but digital media
shone a light on it like never before, in the process triggering the
insecurities that underlie the general malcontent and
disillusionment we see in today’s youth.
The report finds that those who suffer from higher insecurity are
attracted to more extreme views about the government’s role in
the economy. This, it warns, “hampers public deliberation in
uncertain times when insecurity is higher”. In a country where
every economic decision is now looked at as a conspiracy by a
government in cahoots with the IMF or some shadowy world
power, this rings particularly true. The report also notes that
“people with greater intolerance of uncertainty are likely to bond
with politically like-minded peers and less with opponents,
fuelling the formation of polarised beliefs”. It warns that this can
be exploited by politicians who can come up with attractive,
extreme political ideologies that also impart a sense of moral
superiority to those who ascribe to them. One does not need to
name names to see where this is happening in our society and
who is responsible for it. Clearly, we are living through a period
of great social flux. Instead of leading their followers down a
destructive path, there is a dire need for leaders of all shades to
come together and formulate a shared vision of the future that is
built on mutual respect and tolerance. In exploiting the worst of
human nature, they are playing with a fire that will one day burn
them too.
Opinion
Political calculus
dawn.com/news/1709692/political-calculus
September 12, 2022
FEW will be unfamiliar with the ‘minus-one formula’. Talk of it

or one of its iterations seems to have coincided with the peak of
every period of political turmoil in our history. The measure has
usually been taken as a signal that a political leader may be close
to being declared persona non grata by the powers that be and
that those around the said individual should seize the
opportunity and fill the vacuum that is about to be created.
It is an attempt to turn a political party against its own leader,

usually in return for a survival guarantee. The ultimatum is one
of several unconstitutional means that have been employed in
the past to sabotage Pakistan’s civilian leaders when other
measures fail.
For the nth time, the ‘minus-one formula’ has allegedly been
reinserted into the calculus of power, with yet another civilian
leader apprehending forced removal from the political equation.
This time, it is the PTI chairman who claims that the forces
opposed to him — ie, the “imported government” and its
“handlers” — want him removed from the picture over fears he
may return to power stronger than he was before.
Read: What next for the PTI?
This alleged ‘conspiracy’ was a recurrent theme in Imran Khan’s

addresses to supporters over the weekend. It appears that as he
feels the wrath of the establishment building, the former prime
minister wants to use the public’s sympathies as a shield.
However, it is difficult to say whether his fears are real or if he’s
just creating noise to put the state under pressure to give him
relief. One cannot simply ignore the fact that he started talking
about the ‘minus-one formula’ just a day after the Islamabad
High Court decided to indict him for contempt of court, and that
particular bit of trouble was entirely his own doing.
However, the allegation also cannot be completely disregarded.

There are many precedents for the ‘minus-one formula’ and
‘technical knockout’ in Pakistan’s political history. Several
civilian leaders perceived as having become too big for their
boots have been sidelined or forced out through questionable
means. Prime ministers, presidents, and even lesser politicians
deemed ‘undesirable’ for defying red lines have found
themselves on the receiving end of ‘minus-one’.
Therefore, even if the threat of it being applied is being

exaggerated, it is certainly not unthinkable given the downward
trajectory of Mr Khan’s relationship with the state in recent
months. If such a proposal is put forward, the PDM must resist
the temptation to go along with it. Both Asif Ali Zardari and
Nawaz Sharif have been targeted in the past under different
‘minus-one’ schemes, and they ought to realise the patent
unfairness of it. No other entity except the people should have
the power to decide the fate of a political leader. Any
transgression of this rule is unacceptable in a democracy.

Opinion
Learning to fight - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1709693/learning-to-fight
September 12, 2022
IN terms of sheer devastation, it may well emerge that Pakistan

has suffered more damage during this single flood than in any
war that we have fought. Whether we look at the amount of land
inundated or the millions of people displaced, or if we try and
calculate the growing economic cost — already said to be in the
billions of dollars — and the hunger and disease that comes in
the wake of super floods, it becomes clear that this is a
catastrophe like no other.
It is only in terms of the absolute casualty count, which is

nonetheless upwards of a thousand and growing, that the
comparison fails. As is common in conflicts, it is those who are
already most vulnerable that suffer the greatest, and this is
exacerbated by the fact that this war is one that will not be
contained to a single front or a defined border. This is not a
localised battle but an existential conflict that will be fought
everywhere, all at once, and in perpetuity. With that in mind, lets
extend the metaphor and ask what army we are planning to fight
this war with.
How do armies win wars? At the most basic level it involves a

chain of command, clearly defined objectives and a logistic chain
that allows critical supplies and material to get to where they are
needed, before they are needed. Critical to this is organisational
structure which, in the case of most armies, starts with the unit
or section. Three sections combine as a platoon and a company is
made up of three platoons and so on until we reach the division
level. Of course, it does no good to have an excellent
organisational structure if the various components do not
coordinate and work together like parts of a well-oiled machine.
The governmental body tasked with dealing with such disasters

is the appropriately titled National Disaster Management
Authority which is mandated to “[lay] down the policies, plans
and guidelines for disaster management”. It does not and cannot
work in isolation, of course, and so the NDMA must work in
tandem with the provincial disaster management authorities
which, in turn, must delegate ground responsibilities to the
district disaster management authorities, that are meant to be
present and functioning in each district of Pakistan. The DDMAs
have an impressive mandate, tasked as they are with preparing
district response plans while identifying vulnerable areas,
adhering to NDMA and PDMA guidelines and also laying down
guidelines of their own.
Wargaming is crucial to victory.
As far as structure goes, it’s not bad at all, and works perfectly …
on paper. In reality, however, the lack of coordination is
painfully evident, and we know that effective coordination
becomes all the more important when you have a paucity of
resources, as we undoubtedly do.
Pakistan’s response to the floods, once the magnitude of the crisis

became evident, was also uncoordinated: not only were we
caught by surprise by the massive amount of rainfall we received
(which is understandable), we were clearly not able to effectively
deploy resources in a timely fashion, and the spectacle of people
going hungry in relief camps is evidence enough of that. It’s not
that there weren’t enough supplies of food and water to go
around; the problem is that those supplies didn’t get to those who
needed them in time. And time is crucial: it does no good for a
battalion to receive crucial ammunition after the battle is over; it
also does no good for a division that desperately needs spare
parts to receive food rations instead.
And here is where not just coordination, but wargaming takes on

a crucial role, because as the Prussian field marshal Helmuth
Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke said: “No plan of operations
extends with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the
enemy’s main force.” Any plan must take into account not only
contingencies and worst-case scenarios but also be practised
enough that those on the ground and in control rooms have a
chance to train and adjust on the fly. This is a point that Churchill
agreed on, saying: “Plans are of little importance, but planning is
essential.” The only possible way forward then, is to practise and,
equally crucially, ensure that your logistic chains and the people
who man them are able to deal with multiple eventualities.
Critically, our managers have also failed to fully capitalise on the
one resource we can count on: organisations like Alkhidmat, the
Edhi Foundation and many others, big and small, who always
rise to the occasion. Talk to any of these groups and you’ll hear
the same story repeated: no organised coordination between
relief groups or between the groups and the government, with
the result that an area that may no longer need tents is still
getting supplied with tents while too many others remain shelter-
less. We may not have the resources we need, but tragically, we
are not even properly using the resources we have.
Twitter: @zarrarkhuhro

GB’s vulnerability
dawn.com/news/1709694/gbs-vulnerability
September 12, 2022
FLOODS in Pakistan have led to widespread devastation in many

parts of the country. It has been extensively debated that
although the rains were many times higher than expected, poor
governance and lack of disaster preparedness exacerbated the
destruction. Many lives and infrastructure losses could have
been averted had our disaster management authorities been
efficient and proactive.
The region of Gilgit-Baltistan is more vulnerable to the effects of

climate change both for natural and political reasons. GB has the
highest number of small and large glaciers outside the polar
regions. This ecologically fragile part of the world is now facing
the grave threat of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF).
A report issued by the GB government on Aug 28 should be an
eye-opener for authorities. Between June 30 and Aug 26 this year,
110 flash floods were reported in GB. Seventeen people lost their
lives while six were injured. The infrastructure losses in the
region — already underdeveloped and dependent upon the
centre for its budget — are also enormous.
According to the report, 418 houses were completely damaged

and 257 houses partially so; 22 powerhouses were destroyed; and
78 drinking water supply schemes and 500 irrigation water
channels were damaged. Moreover, 56 bridges and 49 roads
were washed away, severely affecting people’s mobility and
transportation of food supplies that are brought in from
Rawalpindi. While most of the damaged facilities have been
temporarily restored, including 19 of the powerhouses, the rains
and floods have exposed the region’s feeble infrastructure.
Failure at the policy level must be questioned.
Although the rains seem to be over, the threat of GLOF is still

looming primarily due to the environmental degradation. The
reasons are numerous but the failure at the policy level must be
questioned. Promoting mass tourism in this ecologically fragile
region without proper planning has led to an influx of tourists
and increase in ground and air traffic. The absence of eco-
friendly tourism policies and infrastructure have aggravated this
situation.
What are the political reasons for GB’s vulnerability? The region
acceded to Pakistan in November 1947 and was linked to the
Kashmir issue. The arrangement was made to gain more votes in
the plebiscite that was supposed to decide the fate of Kashmir
and its people. Since then, GB is administered and governed by
various regimes and federal governments of Pakistan on an ad
hoc basis. The region neither has representation in the national
legislature nor has its assembly been given complete autonomy
in local affairs. The bureaucrats appointed by the federal
government have more say in the administration as compared to
the elected members.
The priorities of the local leadership stood exposed in the recent

disaster. During the peak of flash floods, some GB ministers
including the chief minister were present in Islamabad in a
display of loyalty with their party chief who was appearing in
court for the contempt of court case against him. Having been
largely disappointed by the bureaucrats, people seem to be also
losing trust in the local leadership, which is facing criticism on
social media mostly from GB’s educated youth who highlight
their incompetence and skewed priorities.
The opportunity that seemed to open up after the 2009

presidential order was passed, whereby their assembly was
empowered — at least to a little extent — appears to have been
elusive. Since most of the elected members of GB belong to
mainstream national parties, it is believed to be difficult for them
to deviate from their parties’ policies. Recently, the GB Assembly
passed the Revenue Authority Bill with a majority. The infamous
act will impose various taxes on the population in an otherwise
tax-free region. All previous efforts by the centre to impose taxes
have failed due to massive protests and strikes. The move has
already sparked demonstrations and sit-ins in GB.
The federal government’s track record is not encouraging when it

comes to the region’s upliftment both politically and
economically. Inaugurating the Jutial Sports Complex in Gilgit
recently, GB Chief Secretary Mohiyuddin Ahmed Wani said that
the GB government’s dream was to provide a freelance
workforce from the region to the world in the IT sector, which he
described as the future of Pakistan. Mr Wani perhaps overlooked
two fundamental requirements for the IT sector to boom: one,
availability of uninterrupted and high-speed internet and two,
electricity. Both are rare in GB. Given that the region is facing
chronic power outages for years now, this vision only looks like a
daydream.
GB needs practical solutions from both federal and local

governments. People are living in a constantly life-threatening
situation. There is an urgent need to formulate and implement
sustainable policies for the protection of the people and the
environment.
The writer is lecturer at the School of Economics and Social

Sciences, IBA Karachi.
Twitter: @saj_ahmd

Prioritising Pakistan
dawn.com/news/1709695/prioritising-pakistan
September 12, 2022
IT is heartbreaking to see over 30 million people affected by the

floods. As both a scientist and a development professional
working on climate and environment for the last 30 years,
unfortunately it is too familiar watching Pakistanis go through
the range of emotions from despair to frustration to anger as
they try to grapple with climate change. It’s the usual story about
producing less than one per cent of the emissions and yet being
disproportionately affected by the consequences.
Yes, life is unfair, but it is also time to stop complaining about

being dealt a bad hand and do something about it. Not just
firefighting every time, but to put in place a long-term plan to
minimise the impact of these disasters.
Just over five years ago, Shahid Javed Burki asked me to
contribute a chapter on climate and environment to a book he
was writing on Pakistan at Seventy. My chapter was titled ‘The
downward spiral of the quality of life in Pakistan: Is control
possible, or even desired?’ In it, I discussed the situation of poor
air and water quality and its consequences on quality of life. At
that time, I did not have the data on stunting that is currently
reported by Pakistan’s Demographic Health Survey, and on which
I wrote in July. I also presented what the climate models were
saying about increased heat and humidity, as well as flooding
and drought, noting that for many observers “the two
catastrophic floods in Pakistan in 2010 and 2012, where more
than 20 per cent of the country’s land area was covered by water,
were a harbinger of things to come”. The government of Pakistan
had repeatedly been given the same message by development
agencies since 2010, and even earlier, warning of these once-in-a-
century events happening much more frequently. My chapter
also prompted the head of the Planning Commission at the time
to invite me to speak to the entire commission’s staff in February
2018 about what the government (then led by the PML-N) could
do to be better prepared next time.
For me, as a development professional, it was a matter of choices

that were entirely in Pakistan’s own hands. I argued that
Pakistan needed to act for three reasons. Primarily, I saw it as a
moral issue, given that the poor were disproportionately
affected. Today, on some fronts, such as air quality and stunting,
all income levels are now suffering. Second, the world was
moving to a new set of norms (namely on the Sustainable
Development Goals and climate), and Pakistan could be left far
behind. Today, Pakistan is ranked 125th (out of 163 countries) in
terms of its progress on the SDGs. Third, the country’s future
growth depended on it, as reducing climate risk exposure and
being an early mover in climate-smart technologies and products
positioned Pakistan better to be a player in future markets. This
still holds true.
The country still has choices, that, if made, could halt the current path and take
it in a different direction.
The current floods really bother me. I attended a presentation

over 20 years ago by Robert Watson, then chief scientist of the
World Bank, in which he discussed the impacts of climate
change. He explained there were a few tipping points on climate,
which could take us to a much worse scenario, where all hell
would break loose and all bets were off in terms of what could
happen. It makes me wonder whether the high-pressure areas
over Central Asia (as well as US, Europe, China), and the
consequently low-pressure area over Pakistan held in place for
so many months is a consequence of the jet stream being affected
by climate change. If that is the case, this is really only the
beginning.
So what can we do about it? I still stand by my conclusions to that

chapter: thinking about Pakistan’s future is both sobering and
exhilarating. Sobering because Pakistan is on a downward spiral
that could lead to much worse devastation. Exhilarating because
the country still has choices, that, if made, could halt the current
path and take it in a different direction. What are those choices?
The first choice is simply prioritising the improvement in quality

of life of its own citizens, including addressing stunting, so that
Pakistan’s children are given a better opportunity at life.
Healthier, more informed, economically stable citizens are far
better equipped to deal with adversity. The second is to take a
Pakistan-wide look at the problem, and to formulate a long-term
strategy and action plan. This is akin to the NCOC in Covid-19
times, in that there needs to be universal agreement on what
needs to be done. Then each of the parties, be it the provinces or
the federal government, or the private sector or NGOs, can move
forward with their part of the comprehensive nationwide
strategy. It is crucial that this climate NCOC also include technical
experts on climate, so a more informed plan can be formulated.
Why is a Pakistan-wide approach important? Ironically,

Pakistan’s provincial diversity, which is often the cause of
conflict, is a great strength that can help us better handle the
challenges of energy, water and food security, all linked with
climate change. Taken together, the very different conditions in
each province allow for the creation of a more resilient system,
one to which each province can contribute, but also benefit from.
For example, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s ability to protect
watersheds upstream through managing deforestation and
better land use planning, coupled with constructing rainwater
storage capacity in Sindh, could lead to better flood management
of agricultural areas in Punjab, ensuring adequate food
production nationally.
Hence Pakistanis thinking and acting as one country, and

prioritising improvements in the quality of life of citizens could
put us on a very different path. It could lead us ultimately to a
country that is more resilient, because it is more united. Isn’t it
high time we prioritised Pakistan?
The writer is the director of Integrated Learning Means and a

former World Bank sector manager.

Collision or coexistence?
dawn.com/news/1709696/collision-or-coexistence
September 12, 2022
A SERIES of provocative actions by the US suggest it is

intensifying its confrontation with China. Announcement of a
billion-dollar arms package for Taiwan, on the heels of
controversial visits by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other
congressional members to Taipei, prompted an angry response
from Beijing. China’s foreign minister described Pelosi’s visit as
“manic and irresponsible” and Beijing warned relations would
be “seriously jeopardised” by the arms sales. Washington also
stepped up the tech war with fresh curbs on US exports of chip
technology to Chinese companies. This led Beijing to accuse the
US of imposing a “technological blockade” out of an exaggerated
notion of national security.
Rising tensions now have the hallmark of a new cold war.
Despite their economic interdependence the two global powers
are locked in a dangerous confrontation. The US is embarked on
a policy to contain China while Beijing has made it evident that
while it doesn’t want a crisis it will act assertively to protect its
interests and counter American actions.
China’s heightened military activity and exercises including

firing conventional missiles around Taiwan in response to US
actions, has signalled it is prepared to mount military pressure
on Taiwan. The US, for its part, has been increasing its military
presence there.
In the two years of his presidency, Joe Biden has pursued a

hawkish line on China, quite indistinguishable from his
predecessor Donald Trump’s approach that saw the US impose
wide-ranging trade tariffs on Chinese exports, deploy belligerent
rhetoric and take actions seen as provocations by Beijing. This
hardline policy has been driven by Washington’s growing fear of
a rival superpower’s increasing economic, military and
technological power, seen as a threat to US dominance. Biden’s
stance also reflects political consensus in the US that views China
not just as a competitor but an adversary to be contained. The
upcoming midterm congressional elections may be an added
factor in the Biden administration’s combative stance to make
the Democratic Party look tough on China.
The world’s most consequential relationship between the US & China needs to
be managed responsibly.
Tensions over Taiwan have been taking a perilous course.

Chinese leaders have repeatedly warned Washington of a tough
response if Beijing’s red line is crossed — encouraging ‘separatist
forces’ towards the independence of Taiwan, which China
regards as an inalienable part of its territories. The US insists its
‘One China’ policy remains unchanged but Beijing sees willful
violation. Meanwhile American officials continue to voice
opposition to “unilateral efforts to change the status quo or
undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait”. During
his visit to Japan in May, Biden declared he would be willing to
use military force to defend Taiwan if it was invaded by China.
This evoked strong condemnation from Beijing that accused
Biden of “playing with fire”.
Opinion is divided among experts over whether present tensions

can escalate and eventually result in military conflict between
the US and China. Several former American officials and Western
analysts warn against such an outcome. Henry Kissinger for one
has cautioned the Biden administration against “endless
confrontations” and letting domestic politics overshadow “the
importance of understanding the permanence of China”. He
warned that the two can drift into conflict which will produce a
catastrophe on the scale of World War I. Former Australian
prime minister Kevin Rudd also believes any conflict would be
disastrous. In his book The Avoidable War, published earlier this
year, he makes the case for “managed strategic competition”
between the two superpowers and says that evolving a “joint
strategic framework” might help them find a way to coexist
without compromising their fundamental interests and thus
avert the risk of war.
Ian Bremmer offers the compelling argument that a US-China

collision, with other countries expected to choose sides, would
prevent the world from addressing the three impending global
crises — pandemics, climate emergency and life-altering
disruptive technology. A cold war, he reasons in his new book
The Power of Crisis, is not inevitable. A partnership between
rival powers, who engage in “well-coordinated competition”,
could help meet the world’s most pressing challenges.
These hopeful scenarios are not yet playing out in Sino-US

relations. If anything, expectations of de-escalation of tensions
and stabilisation of ties have not materialised. Developments
point in a different direction. Last year the US forged a new
trilateral security pact with the UK and Australia named AUKUS.
This aims to enhance Australia’s naval power by nuclear-
powered submarines to counter China’s military ascendancy in
the western Pacific. Apart from its nuclear proliferation
implications, this further reinforced in Beijing’s mind that Biden
had embarked on a strategy to contain China.
More recently, Biden’s five-nation May trip to Asia was designed

to cement the anti-China coalition as well as offer so-called Indo-
Pacific states an ostensible alternative to their close trade and
investment ties with China. The second in-person meeting of
Quad countries — US, Japan, India and Australia — also took
place in Tokyo in May. The Quad was resuscitated with the
express purpose of countering China. The statement issued after
the summit did not name China but the reference was clear
when it declared resistance to “any coercive, provocative or
unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo” in the Indo-
Pacific. Similarly, the announcement that Quad nations would
invest over $50 billion in developing infrastructure in the Asia-
Pacific region was also aimed at offsetting China’s growing
influence.
While there is no confirmation yet, a summit meeting between

Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Biden is likely on the
sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia in November. This will
be their first face-to-face encounter. Their previous
conversations, by phone or video, have helped clarify their
positions and sought to build what Biden called “guardrails” to
prevent an inadvertent drift into conflict. But they did not
produce a lasting thaw in their frosty ties. Whether the meeting
in Bali can help stabilise fraying relations is yet to be determined
as both global powers do not want any military collision. What is
apparent is the need for the world’s most consequential
relationship to be managed responsibly to avert a breakdown,
even conflict. The future course of Sino-US relations has far-
reaching consequences for the global economy, international
peace and security and dealing with a range of shared
challenges.

Barbaric behaviour
dawn.com/news/1709505/barbaric-behaviour
September 10, 2022
IN Pakistan, it is often the case that the state and its functionaries
are at the beck and call of the elite, often deploying violence to
protect the powerful, and punish the common man for his
‘insolence’. But some incidents are so brazen that they cannot be
seen as business as usual. One such case involves the reported
police brutality a father and his teenage son suffered simply
because they had attended a protest. Ahmer Mansoor and his son
Moosa bin Ahmer had shown up to a recent protest against the
KWSB in North Nazimabad, as the utility was allegedly providing
a questionable water connection to a nearby private health
facility owned by a PPP leader and former federal minister.
Residents had gathered at the spot and protested against the
apparently special privileges being provided to the facility, in a
city where millions are unable to get water through the tap. Law
enforcers had dispersed the protest, but Ahmer and his son were
reportedly attacked by senior police officials, resulting in major
injuries to both. Young Moosa says a uniformed DSP punched
him, kicked him and stomped on his feet. The father-son duo was
thereafter taken to a nearby lock-up, and later released without
charge.
Those responsible for this sickening abuse of power need to be

brought to justice. The Karachi police chief has said he was
“shocked” at the reported abuse by his men, while media reports
say the relevant SHO has been suspended. Beyond mere
expressions of shock, the police culture in this country must
change. Law-abiding citizens, who are largely deprived of all
services by the state, cannot be treated like serfs while the well-
heeled and well-connected are facilitated above and beyond the
law. Protest is the people’s democratic right, and the police
cannot be allowed to use such barbaric tactics against peaceful
demonstrators. There needs to be a thorough probe into this
despicable incident, and those responsible need to be punished,
while the victims should be compensated.
Opinion
More platitudes? - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1709506/more-platitudes
September 10, 2022
THE families of missing people are caught in a nightmare that

appears to have no end. Stonewalling, platitudes, empty promises
— they have seen it all, and through several changes of
government too. On Thursday, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah,
speaking at a press conference in Quetta while on a visit to the
provincial capital said: “The federal government is making all
out efforts to resolve this issue and progress has been made to a
great extent in this regard… . We are in a position to resolve this
problem not in months and years but in days and weeks”. Mr
Sanaullah, along with some federal cabinet members, also met
families of Baloch missing persons who had been holding a
protest in the city since 50 days and persuaded them to call off
their sit-in. Has the state discovered a new resolve to address this
burning issue, or are the interior minister’s words more of the
same delaying tactics? History, and the de facto power structure
in the country, suggests it is the latter.
Nevertheless, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah while hearing

identical petitions seeking recovery of six missing persons has
consistently called upon the government to acknowledge its duty
to the citizens. When Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appeared at
the latest hearing on Friday in response to Justice Minallah’s
directive, the latter rightly pointed out that it was for the political
leadership to resolve the issue. No chief executive, he contended,
could say he is helpless. “If you are giving this excuse, this means
there’s a state within a state.” There is nowhere for the
government to hide. The ugly reality of enforced disappearances
cannot simply be brushed under the carpet; the stain of this
crime colours our reputation on the world stage and
compromises our claims to being a civilised nation. That despite
the issue having garnered so much negative press, people
continue to be picked up without due process and spirited away
leaving their families running from pillar to post to glean
information of their whereabouts is unconscionable. The
Commission of Inquiry for Enforced Disappearances has proved
almost wholly ineffective. While it has managed to trace the
whereabouts of some of the missing, it has failed to hold to
account a single perpetrator of this heinous crime which was the
second part of its mandate. The civilian leadership must
demonstrate the political will to take the bull by the horns.
Opinion
An appeal to the world
dawn.com/news/1709507/an-appeal-to-the-world
September 10, 2022
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres joined the premier on

Friday to urge the world to help Pakistan as it struggles to cope
with the aftermath of catastrophic floods. Pakistan needs
massive financial assistance to recover, he said. Days before,
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had warned that the country
would need “trillions of rupees” to rehabilitate 33m Pakistanis
who have seen their lives washed away by the surging waters.
With nearly 1,400 people dead, around a million livestock lost, as
well as homes, crops, roads and other infrastructure destroyed or
damaged, new estimates put the economic losses at about $20bn.
However, no estimate can capture even a fraction of human cost
of the tragedy that continues to unfold in the affected parts of the
country as the cash-strapped government struggles to deliver
emergency services to the stranded people looking desperately
for shelter, food and medicine. As the secretary-general pointed
out, “The numbers [reflecting the economic losses] are appalling.
But beyond the numbers, I see the families that have lost their
loved ones, houses, crops, jobs and are living in desperate
conditions”.
The exact extent of material losses will become clear only when
the floodwaters recede and a thorough survey is carried out. The
question is how the government plans to generate billions of
dollars needed to help the affected communities rebuild their
lives from scratch, and reconstruct the damaged infrastructure.
Earlier, the premier had rightly stressed that the scale of the
destruction was so enormous that no government or country
could be expected to deal with the challenge alone. As he joined
the UN chief, he said: “We thank the international community for
contributing […] but unless we get sufficient support for
providing relief and repairing the damage, we will be in trouble.”
Even though the UN has launched a flash appeal for funds to help
the most affected people and many countries have dispatched
planeloads of relief supplies like tents and food, the world’s
initial response to the tragedy has so far been underwhelming at
best. That’s not unexpected considering that the rich West,
preoccupied with the Ukrainian crisis for several months now, is
busy striving to stave off another economic recession amid
historic inflation and energy supply disruptions. Therefore, it
would be naive to expect the world to step up to support Pakistan
in the post-flood rehabilitation and reconstruction effort in a big
way. Much of the cost will have to be borne by the nation itself.
Mr Sharif has repeatedly promised the affected people that the
government wouldn’t leave them in the lurch. Yet the experience
of 2010 — or before and since then — shows that such
commitments are conveniently forgotten once the intensity of
the tragedy starts receding with the floodwaters. At the end of
the day, the politically voiceless people are left to fund the cost of
recovery on their own.

Opinion
Jinnah and Gandhi - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1709508/jinnah-and-gandhi
September 10, 2022
HECTOR Bolitho’s biography, Jinnah: Creator of Pakistan, doesn’t

get the attention it deserves, even though it was the Quaid-e-
Azam’s first biography in English by an internationally
recognised author. American writer Stanley Wolpert mentions
him only briefly in his classic, Jinnah of Pakistan, while the
young Pakistani writer Yasser Latif Hamdani in his Jinnah: A
Life, totally ignores him. Maybe, on a humble personal level, the
Bolitho book has had a lasting impression on me because I read it
in my intellectually formative years at college.
Like all biographies, the Bolitho book covers every phase of

Jinnah’s life — from childhood, through his navigation of the
Muslim cause, and up to his death. But what adds to the book’s
readability for the layperson is his emphasis on some of the traits
in Jinnah’s character and the contrast with Mahatma Gandhi.
Both were great men of the kind history produces in centuries,

both had respect for each other despite acute political differences
and both negotiated face to face and through correspondence at
a level that truly revealed the inherent greatness in their
character.
On some of Jinnah’s obsessions, like that with personal

cleanliness, Bolitho dwells at considerable length and quotes
eyewitnesses that to my knowledge other books missed. They
included doctors, friends and two personalities that fascinated
Jinnah – Liaquat Ali Khan and his charismatic wife, Ra’ana.
Both were great men of the kind history produces in centuries.
As for the differences between Jinnah and Gandhi, a most
interesting account has been given by a doctor who treated them
both. Not named by Bolitho, the doctor said of Jinnah: “As a
politician, he kept his distance. Gandhi was unclothed before his
disciples: Jinnah was clothed before his disciples: that was the
difference between them. Gandhi was an instrument of power:
Jinnah was power. He was a cold rationalist in politics; a man
with a one-track mind, but with great force behind it. That was
the fundamental difference between them.”
In terms of their cleanliness habits, he said “Gandhi used to say

‘Cleanliness is not next to Godliness. It is Godliness.’ He was
scrupulously clean in all his physical habits, yet he would
perform dirty work and spoil his hands, in doing some kindness
for the poor. Jinnah was not like that. His cleanliness was a
personal mania. He would wash his hands … several times a day.
But he did not wish to touch people: it was as if he wished to be
immaculate and alone.”
Bitterness never cropped up between them and they behaved in

a manner that was sometimes astonishing. Once the Quaid had
some problem with one of his feet and couldn’t go to the gate to
receive Gandhi when he came to his Bombay home for one of
their lengthy talk sessions. Gandhi sat down on the floor,
removed Jinnah’s shoe and sock, examined his affected foot and
promised to send him a home remedy. The medicine arrived next
day, and even though Jinnah didn’t use it he thanked Gandhi for
his gesture.
Yet neither of the two great men in whose hands was the destiny
of a subcontinent gave up their views on partition. Gandhi made
several proposals which seemingly accepted partition but with
clauses that Jinnah didn’t find acceptable.
Arguing against Jinnah’s two-nation theory, Gandhi wrote to him:
“I find no parallel in history of a body of converts and
descendants claiming to be a nation apart from the parent stock.
If India was one nation before the advent of Islam, it must
remain one in spite of the change of faith of a large body of her
children. You do not claim to be a separate nation by right of
conquest but by reason of acceptance of Islam. Will the two
nations become one if the whole of India accepted Islam?”
Jinnah’s reply was historic and like all his utterances and
writings consisted of words that turned the reply into textbook
stuff for future students of Pakistan’s history. He wrote back: “We
maintain that Muslims and Hindus are two major nations by any
definition or test as a nation. We are a nation of a hundred
million, and what is more, we are a nation with our own
distinctive culture and civilisation, language and literature, art
and architecture, names and nomenclature, sense of values and
proportion, legal laws and moral codes, customs and calendar,
history and traditions, aptitudes and ambitions: in short, we have
our own distinctive outlook on life and of life. By all the canons
of international law we are a nation.”
Gandhi’s assassination on Jan 30, 1948 by a Hindu fanatic

“shocked” the Quaid, who called him “one of the greatest men
produced by the Hindu community.”
Bolitho’s book begins with a single quote on the page after the
flyleaf: “Failure is a word unknown to me.” — Jinnah
The writer is Dawn’s External Ombudsman and an author.

Role reversal - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1709509/role-reversal
September 10, 2022
IN July I had the good fortune of watching a cinema screening of

Prima Facie, Suzie Miller’s one-woman play starring Jodie Comer,
in London. During the lockdown in the UK in 2020, the National
Theatre first screened its plays for free on its YouTube channel,
ostensibly to stay afloat financially and entertain audiences, then
moved to become a paid streaming platform before launching its
plays on the big screen when cinemas opened. Prima Facie was
the highest grossing cinema event since the pandemic and
became the second highest grossing cinema event release of all
time in the UK with £4.26 million.
It was easy to see why. Comer stars in this tour de force as Tessa
who rises from a poor state school to study at, and excel in, law
at Cambridge and become a successful criminal lawyer
defending men charged with sex crimes. When she becomes a
victim of sexual assault herself, and seeks redressal, she is forced
to contend with all the barriers a survivor has to face in their
pursuit of justice. Such as how a victim’s time in court is spent
asking that they be believed — beyond a reasonable doubt —
with the legal system set up in a way to make it difficult to prove
this. Comer’s performance runs the gamut of emotions and is one
that will make audiences understand the limitations of the
judiciary’s understanding of consent and law.
When she was defending rapists, Tessa would use tactics to

denigrate victims on the stand so it’s particularly gut-wrenching
to see her on the other side facing the same approach. The
prosecution’s questioning of her testimony, in a bid to determine
legal truth (whatever can be proved beyond doubt) versus actual
truth, will leave you angry. To see Tessa navigate the many
moving pieces and players involved in the legal system — and
her frustration, anger, self-doubt — was very powerful.
The play demonstrates why and how the legal system is flawed
for sexual assault victims. It’s also a reminder that legal systems
are overwhelmingly created by men for men.
Legal systems are overwhelmingly created by men for men.
Comer’s performance stayed with me as I walked home that

night alone — a short 10-minute walk — from the cinema. To put
it in context, this is a walk I have done numerous times over the
decades I have visited London, often alone but that night, I found
myself more alert than usual. It is an awareness every woman is
familiar with; a sixth sense that lives within us, that keeps us
cautious, that makes us cross streets to avoid contact, to reach for
your keys, to check no one is behind you. It is why women say to
one another when they part: text me when you get home.
Women know what it is like to live like this.
In 1975 Susan Brownmiller wrote that a world without this fear

would be like one “in which women moved freely without fear of
men. That some men rape provides a sufficient threat to keep all
women in a constant state of intimidation, forever conscious of
the knowledge that the biological tool must be held in awe, for it
may turn to weapon with sudden swiftness borne of harmful
intent…”
The vast majority of perpetrators of sexual assault will not go to

prison. In the UK, a woman reports rape every eight minutes but
only 35 per cent secure a conviction if the case gets to court. In
the US, 975 out of 1,000 perpetrators walk free according to the
Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, the country’s largest
anti-sexual violence organisation. RAINN says two out of three
assaults are not reported to the police. While sexual violence is
difficult to measure, data across the world shows that the
majority of rapes are committed by someone known to the
victim.
A report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said no

less than 11 rape cases are reported daily; at least 22,000 such
incidents were reported to police between 2015 to 2021. The
manner in which women survivors of sexual assault have been
spoken about in this country in the last few years is a shameful
testament to how the political and legal system fails Pakistani
women.
Prima Facie partnered with the Schools Consent Project which
teaches students about consent and how the law defines it. The
organisation says young people need to understand consent and
sexual offences so they are fully prepared for relationships. This
is a noble idea which is desperately needed here, shorn of lessons
in morality, because students do not receive adequate sex
education, in schools or at home. Everything is clouded in shame
and honour. However, rape changes people’s lives, like it did
Tessa’s, and the goal should be to shift the focus from the way
victims are believed to how men are prosecuted for their crimes.
Rape should be prosecuted not on the basis of a woman’s
behaviour, but a man’s.
The writer teaches journalism.

The worst of times - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1709510/the-worst-of-times
September 10, 2022
IT must be the worst of times, with a natural calamity striking

millions, forcing them out of their modest mud homes, ruining
their crops, exacting a toll on their loved ones and not even
sparing the lifeline of many in the countryside, their livestock.
If those who wield power in the country, and those that share in
it in whatever measure, were united in putting aside their petty
differences and power grabs in order to deal with the calamity,
one could say a way forward was possible.
Sadly, that does not seem to be the case. A populist opposition

leader, who enjoys considerable support in the country if the
recent by-elections were any indicator, appears committed to his
seemingly ‘scorched earth’ campaign ever since his ouster from
office earlier in the year.
For now, he is setting one deadline after another and attacking

every single institution in the country that he sees as an obstacle
on his path back to power. Some insiders say there is method to
his madness. Despite the floods, his popularity has not ebbed and
he intends to ride the crest of the wave.
The country’s economy is broken. Its social contract appears in tatters. Let us
now experiment no more. In the words of a teenager: take a chill pill.
His public rallies are cleverly designed as their location is largely

well away from the flood-hit areas in south Punjab and KP, and
nowhere near worst-hit Sindh and Balochistan. He knows well
that a big win in Punjab and KP in any future election could put
him back in office.
So, he can afford to ignore the helpless plight of the waterlogged

people of the two other provinces which received four to five
times their usual quota of rain and have been flooded, with the
water not receding through absorption or by draining itself out.
Outright political opportunism is driving this strategy. And why

not? This is what politics is about. The politician’s pursuit of
office is done thus. If a natural calamity strikes, the quest for
office can’t be put on hold.
The result of the economic policies of the past two governments

and the current global environment with spiralling energy and
food prices provides an ideal platform for anyone who happens
to be in the opposition at this point in time to hammer the one(s)
in office. Inflation is making life impossible for the multitudes.
With inflation being a legitimate target, add a twist of foreign
conspiracy and a dash of religion and voila! You have the magic
formula. And if you also have the audacity now to start attacking
and sowing divisions among powerful quarters that have helped
propel you to newer heights till recently, you can’t get it wrong,
can you?
Not if some speculation is to be believed. The elephant in the

room is now being mentioned almost daily and feels it is being
made ‘controversial’. This is a new and uneasy reality for those
who have preferred to wield power way beyond their
constitutional limits, while staying well away from the spotlight.
Now they are being dragged into the limelight and they don’t like
it. Therefore, the speculation suggests, a new political
engineering plan is on the drawing board so a fresh and clean
start can be made. This would have been very nice if the
engineers’ track record was awe-inspiring. It is not.
With the economic challenges unlikely to go away anytime soon

and the floods placing an untold additional burden on every
Pakistani, to play more games sounds utterly insane, to me at
least. Even if evidence slowly starts to emerge to back the
speculation, there seem way too many variables to manage
simultaneously to deliver what will leave everybody happy, or at
least be acceptable to all.
For now, the ideal would be to manage the economy and rescue it
from the troubled waters it is caught in; to give direct, targeted
relief to the poor hard-hit by inflation and to make sure those
rendered destitute by the ferocity of the floods do not feel let
down, abandoned.
The poor have always had to bear the brunt of every nasty
situation, man-made or natural. Let’s, for a change, rush to
provide succour to them, make them feel like Pakistanis that are
equal to the rest of us. Most importantly, give them hope and
show them a path back to normality in their lives. Not asking for
much.
Also, for a change, there is a crying need to shelve our ‘wisdom’

that dictates and shapes all our insanity. We must rely solely on
the Constitution and the rule of law. The country’s economy is
broken. Its social contract appears in tatters. Let us now
experiment no more. In the words of a teenager: take a chill pill.
If indeed a national consensus is warranted on the way forward,

it should be dictated by national interest and not one political
entity’s ferocious attacks on one and all. It’ll be ludicrous to bend
to threats of arson, of burning the house down.
If you cede ground today, rest assured tomorrow’s concession

will need to be even bigger, far more bitter, leading to the
obvious question, where will all this end? The rule of law must
be held supreme. And unless a genuine consensus is achieved via
a national dialogue, backroom deals will deliver nothing viable,
let alone enviable.
Against this rather bleak scenario, my spirits — given the eternal

optimist that I am — were lifted with the visit to the protest in
Quetta for missing persons by several members of the federal
cabinet. That was followed by the prime minister’s assurance to
the Islamabad High Court that he will address the issue of
enforced disappearances within an agreed timeframe of two
months.
The Quetta protesters who have braved the vagaries of the
weather, including vicious rainstorms, for 50 days, agreed to go
home over the ministers’ assurances. The cabinet members’
words and the High Court proceedings filled me with a little
hope, no matter how vain it turns out to be. Even then, for me,
until there are identifiable signs of a resolution, it will remain the
worst of times.


The change in the wind
dawn.com/news/1709511/the-change-in-the-wind
September 10, 2022
TWENTY-ONE years ago, the 9/11 attacks in the US set off a range
of social and political changes in Muslim societies. The Middle
East was the flashpoint as it was believed that the Al Qaeda
ideology was deep-rooted in the political conflict and prevalent
religious thought in that part of the globe. In subsequent years,
the ‘Arab Spring’ largely failed in leading to a democratic change
in the region. Now, the Gulf monarchies are trying to bring about
the changes which many expected a democratic process to
deliver.
The monetary and political cost of the ‘change’ envisioned and

set out by monarchies in the Middle East is low but its impact
seems enormous: it is changing Muslim societies worldwide.
Many anticipate that the ongoing moderation or religious reform
in Saudi Arabia, and the Abraham Accords between Israel and
the UAE will counteract and weaken the radical groups in
Muslim societies that have long been thriving on the Gulf states’
financial and political support. Although the claim thus far lacks
empirical evidence, the pace and outcome of the ‘change process’
will make its validation easier.
Events and developments in the Middle East influence ideological

and political trends in Pakistan. But the latter is also concerned
about the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, political changes in
Iran, and the rise of communal hatred in India. All these and
other externalities and the state’s response to them are slowly
changing the country’s sociopolitical and ideological outlook. The
change, which will take time to become visible, will not only
reshape religious thought but also determine the future trends of
extremism in society. So far, non-state actors, religious groups,
and power elites are trying to understand the changes in the
region and will shape their strategies accordingly.
Pakistan’s growing financial dependence on the Gulf region will

not only influence its geopolitical and strategic choices, but also
the state’s attitude towards the religious groups which play on
their close sectarian affinity with Middle Eastern countries,
especially Saudi Arabia.
Events and developments in the Middle East influence ideological and political
trends in Pakistan.
The religious reform in Saudi Arabia has brought about a big

challenge for the conservative Salafi and Deobandi religious
groups in Pakistan, which find it difficult to change their outlook
overnight. More than 20 Salafi groups and parties were thriving
on the Gulf states’ support, apart from the violent Deobandi
sectarian groups which were aligned with them. A few groups
are trying to adjust to the changes to keep their financial support
from the Gulf countries intact. However, some resist and try to
find alternative foreign funding sources or expand their local
support bases.
Over a period, the Pakistani state has also changed its approach
toward certain militant and radical religious groups that once
enjoyed the patronage of state institutions. The state has changed
its approach after external pressure, and especially the FATF, led
it to review its policies.
The banned Jamaatud Dawa (JuD), a major Salafi group in

Pakistan with an armed wing, the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), is
undergoing a transformation. This transformation can help in
understanding how the changes in the Middle East and the
policies of the state institutions together impact radical forces in
Pakistan. Right now, three disparate views persist within the
organisation. The first view favours abandoning the militant
path and focusing only on educational and preaching activities.
Proponents of this view also support Mohammed bin Salman’s
policies in Saudi Arabia and the Abraham Accords. There is also a
strong opinion within the group for adopting the path of electoral
politics. The JuD had participated in the last general election and
invested huge resources, but its performance was abysmal.
However, the young leadership sees politics as a reasonable safe
exit to deflect the pressure from their cadre demanding the
restoration of organisational activities. The view is not popular
among the main leadership, but JuD workers and supporters
have an appetite for it, as they compare their strengths with the
Barelvi Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan that they believe has filled
the vacuum which the JuD left behind. Besides these two views,
there is also a faction within the group that still insists on jihad,
does not want to quit the path of militancy, and is willing to
continue its activities without the support of state institutions.
The JuD cadre is confused; they have not only devoted their lives
to the group but also brought their families into the
organisational fold. Most of them were surviving on the financial
support provided by the JuD, but now they are struggling and
need immediate engagement. The state has not provided any
rehabilitation to these abandoned workers. Now they are an easy
target for groups like Islamic State in Khorasan (IS-K). Other
banned groups are also facing the same challenge. The Salafists,
stigmatised by various violent and nonviolent expressions of
fundamentalism, are left with little choice. They have
Mohammed bin Salman on one side and IS-K on the other. They
can choose between the two, with almost no option for a middle
ground.
The Deobandis are fragmented too, as always, but their

significant majority, including the violent sectarian groups, still
feel in line with the Saudis. The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan
has also given them a sense of victory. The Saudis will have an
interest in continuing to support them for the sake of countering
Iranian influence in the country both on societal and state levels.
The state institutions would also have in mind the utility of these
outfits for future political scenarios. However, they would not
allow the Deobandi madressahs to nurture another generation of
the militants that would ultimately hurt the state institutions’
interests.
The Gulf states cannot develop a relationship with the wider civil
society in Pakistan because of the latter’s democratic credentials,
and they will keep depending on their old allies among the
religious parties. It is not certain that the Gulf states will try to
impose any change on the religious groups until they serve their
purpose. Iran, too, has no interest in abandoning its Shia allies in
Pakistan. The religious groups will not change overnight, but the
changes in the Middle East will impact them slowly and steadily.

Pointless disdain
dawn.com/news/1709341/pointless-disdain
September 9, 2022
THE PTI chairman’s worsening legal challenges are entirely of his

own making. Despite being given a rare second chance by the
Islamabad High Court to offer an unconditional apology and
likely walk away unscathed from the contempt of court charges
stemming from his problematic remarks targeted at Additional
District and Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry, Mr Khan seems to
have had trouble preventing his ego from getting in the way of
good sense. Instead of offering a straight apology, as was
expected by the court, Mr Khan simply offered a more detailed
defence of his actions while expressing ‘deep regrets’ over the
matter. Unimpressed and likely even more riled at Mr Khan for
so obdurately wasting the court’s time with his unrepentant
response, the IHC has now decided to frame contempt of court
charges against the former prime minister on Sept 22. “We are
not convinced that the respondent has purged himself of the
wrongdoing alleged against him in relation to which the show-
cause notice was issued,” the court said, as it announced the
decision.
Those facing contempt proceedings are expected to tender an

unqualified, unconditional apology and symbolically seek the
mercy of the court if they wish to avoid a formal case. However,
Mr Khan, or his legal advisers, or both appear to have decided
that they would rather contest this charge than walk away from
it — thereby preparing for what appears to be an unnecessary
confrontation with the court. It must also be borne in mind that
the IHC chief justice has in the past described himself as quite
averse to contempt of court proceedings. The court’s decision to
frame charges, in this case, seems more indicative of immense
frustration at Mr Khan for refusing a chance to redeem himself.
One also wonders why Mr Khan has found it so difficult to just
say ‘sorry’ and be done with it. He has already expressed “deep
regret” over his utterances and gone to great lengths to explain
why he said what he did. Clearly, he realises he may have done
something wrong. But instead of offering a clear apology, he has
beaten about the bush and subsequently invited the court’s ire.
The leader of a party literally named ‘movement for justice’
seems to be expecting the judiciary to submit and give him
special treatment just because of his rising star. This cannot be.
Former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and other members of

parliament who were convicted of contempt were disqualified
from contesting elections for a five-year period. If found guilty,
Mr Khan is likely to face the same punishment. There may be
some who believe that this is just another attempt by his
opponents at a technical knock-out to check the PTI chairman’s
growing popularity. However, the truth is that Mr Khan has this
time picked a fight of his own choosing.
Opinion
MDCAT delay - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1709342/mdcat-delay
September 9, 2022
THE indefinite delay in conducting the MDCAT — the national

admission test for medical and dental colleges — on account of
the flood situation is likely to disrupt the plans of thousands of
aspiring students. The federal health minister announced earlier
this week that the medical entry tests had been put off and a new
date would be announced after consultation with the provinces.
It has also been decided to reduce the pass percentage required
for admission to medical colleges. From now on, only 45pc and
55pc pass marks would be required in MDCAT for admission to
BDS and MBBS programmes, respectively. While the countrywide
destruction caused by the floods may be a cogent reason to delay
the test, the postponement will nevertheless disrupt the
academic cycles of medical colleges and postgraduate medical
and dental training in the country. This is why the authorities
should make alternative arrangements for conducting the
admission test soon so that students do not lose precious time
and can make their academic plans accordingly.
At the other end, the lowering of the admission percentage for

medical and dental colleges raises serious questions about the
credibility and proficiency of the medical education sector. The
field of medicine is a highly demanding one, with clinical
knowledge and diagnostic training rooted in academic
proficiency. Over the years, several experts have been raising
serious concerns regarding the deficient clinical training of
graduating doctors in the country. Given this backdrop, lowering
the standards of merit for admission to medical colleges would
further jeopardise the professional credentials of upcoming
doctors. This is not the way. What is required, instead, is a
determined effort to improve the overall standard of education
from Intermediate to medical college level. Flooding medical
colleges with students whose academic performance has been
subpar may produce a greater number of doctors and dentists
but will do nothing to promote quality standards. Healthcare in
the country is already defective; lowering admission criteria is a
sure shot recipe for greater disaster in the medical sector.
Opinion
Elizabeth II’s reign
dawn.com/news/1709343/elizabeth-iis-reign
September 9, 2022
WITH the death of British Queen Elizabeth II in her Scottish

castle on Thursday, a major link between the UK’s imperial past
and postcolonial present has been broken. For many in the
Global South — particularly Asia and Africa — it was during her
70-year reign as monarch that their countries threw off the
shackles of European bondage. Pakistan had done so during her
father’s reign. Yet this country remained a British dominion from
independence to 1956, with the British sovereign serving as head
of state, until a republican constitution was adopted. That we still
have a long way to go to achieve real republican and democratic
governance is another story altogether. Elizabeth II visited
Pakistan twice, in 1961 when Gen Ayub Khan was running the
show, and in 1997 when Nawaz Sharif was prime minister of this
country. During the 1961 visit, the queen remarked that Pakistan
was a “power in the Islamic world”. Other members of her
family, including now King Charles III as well as his late ex-wife
Diana, also visited this country over the decades. After discarding
its dominion status, Pakistan remained part of the
Commonwealth — the club of British ex-colonies — though
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto withdrew Pakistan from the organisation in
protest over the recognition of Bangladesh, while the country
was suspended twice, in 1999 and 2007, due to Gen Musharraf’s
assaults on democracy.
When Elizabeth took the throne following her father George VI’s
death in 1952, Britain was a declining empire. Today, the country
is a shadow of its former self, having withdrawn from Europe
through the Brexit adventure, while the US has replaced it as
global hegemon. However, the British sovereign remains the
head of several countries, mostly of English-speaking European
settler states such as Canada and Australia, though even in these
realms there have been serious debates about abandoning the
crown in favour of republicanism. With the idea of a monarchy
— even a constitutional monarchy — appearing to be archaic in
the 21st century, Elizabeth’s son and successor Charles will have
to mould the centuries-old institution as per the demands of the
democratic age. Elizabeth II dealt with many controversies in her
family life, mainly related to her children, with great stoicism,
and her symbolic role in steering her country in the post-World
War II era has been widely hailed. It remains to be seen whether
Charles III will build on and carry forward this legacy.
Opinion
Due process - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1709344/due-process
September 9, 2022
“In the circumstances of the present case, she appears to be a

person, in the words of Shakespeare’s King Lear, ‘more sinned
against than sinning’.” — Justice Asif Saeed Khosa
WITH nearly 500,000 Pakistanis leaving the country for greener

pastures each year, those who continue to reside in Pakistan are
often confronted with the limits of their optimism as nepotism,
misgovernance, and the conflagration of violent extremism
threaten to push us over the edge of the precipice. Nonetheless,
there are certain moments, every now and then, that continue to
reinforce the belief that a democratic and pluralistic society
where the rule of law reigns supreme and where the rights of
women, minorities, and other marginalised segments are
protected may not elude us forever. One such moment recently
came in the form of the decision rendered by a two-member
bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Qazi Faez Isa
and Syed Mansoor Ali Shah in Salamat Mansha’s case.
Facts: Salamat Mansha’s case involved a Christian man who was

charged for offences under Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal
Code, 1898, which pertains to offences against religion and
hurting the religious sensitivities of others. The complainant had
stated that he along with four other friends had visited the Model
Town Park where the accused was engaged in preaching
Christianity. The sessions court and the high court had both
rejected the accused’s bail, thus bringing the appeal to the
Supreme Court.
Scope of the judgement: The judgement in the Salamat Mansha

case does not question the established principles underlying our
religious jurisprudence nor does it challenge the validity or
constitutionality of Section 295, PPC. To the contrary, the
judgement merely highlights how the conflagration of religious
intolerance irrevocably and irreparably jeopardises the right to
fair trial and due process of a person charged with an offence
under Section 295, PPC. The judgement moreover iterates that
our fidelity to fundamental rights and constitutional safeguards
should not submerge merely due to an accused being charged
with an offence that we feel most profoundly about.
The mob tramples upon the right to a fair trial.
Due process and fundamental rights: The preceding decade has

been characterised by an alarming increase in the propensity to
weaponise religion against political movements. As political
parties align themselves with sectarian groups and banned
outfits during electoral campaigns, the latter are able to maintain
their stranglehold over the media and shape the dominant
narrative. Unsurprisingly, those who question their monopoly
over religion and their proclivity to use violence are muzzled
through the weaponisation of laws relating to offences against
religion and exciting the passions of those susceptible to their
propaganda. The right to due process and fair trial of a person
accused of such crimes is, thus, trampled under the weight of a
mob that lusts after blood while the state remains a silent
spectator as constitutional guarantees are flouted at the altar of
political expediency.
Cognisant of the weaponisation of such laws to settle personal

scores, the judgement observes that allegations are often
“levelled to settle personal scores and cases are also registered
for mischievous purposes or on account of ulterior motives” as
mobs arrogate to themselves the function of the state and
pronounce judgements even before the courts have declared an
accused to be guilty.
Dilating on the prosecution’s case, the court held that while the
accused was stated to have uttered offensive words in a public
park, no one from the park except the complainant and his
friends testified against him nor did anyone including the
complainant make a video of the accused’s utterances despite the
complainant and his friends being in possession of their phones.
Further, while the accused had been incarcerated for over a year
and had his phone examined, no incriminating evidence could be
gathered against him. Most importantly perhaps, the court
observes that “oftentimes righteous zeal, moral outrage, and/or
indignation also steers the prosecution to a pre-determined
destination by eclipsing the general standard of proof in criminal
cases; that is, beyond reasonable doubt”.
As repression and intolerance seeps across our society, the
judgement serves as a reminder that the court would not remain
a spectator as fundamental rights are brazenly violated unlike
neighbouring Indiawhere the judiciary has capitulated before its
fascist regime’s Hindutva project, as evident from the Karnataka
High Court upholding the hijab ban in educational institutions
and the Supreme Court of India condoning the destruction of the
Babri mosque.
While we continue to remain on the edge of the precipice, the

judgement in Salamat Mansha’s case may have averted our
impending fall. The polis may not be falling apart after all!

Twitter: @MoizBaig26

Russia & S. Asia - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1709345/russia-s-asia
September 9, 2022
A LEADER’S greatness lies in altering fundamentally the course

of history. The West, barring a few, has not been fair, still less
kind, to Mikhail S. Gorbachev who breathed his last over a week
ago. He brought about an end to the Cold War; liberated Eastern
Europe, established finally friendly relations with the US and
other Western countries, ended the Cold War with China and set-
tled the old boundary dispute with it by a simple remark “let the
boundary row midstream of the River Ussuri”. This was shortly
ahead of his visit to Beijing which proved a big success.
He also changed fundamentally the course of relations between

the Soviet Union and Pakistan. A change in relations between
Pakistan and the Soviet Union was indicated of all places in New
Delhi in 1986. Gorbachev was about to end his first visit to India.
In November 1986, he addressed a joint press conference with
prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. Let me quote from the official
Soviet transcript in extenso.
“Question to Mikhail Gorbachev: “You have expressed the hope

for an early settlement of the Afghanistan problem. What is the
basis of your hope? You have spoken about an Asia-Pacific
security plan. How does Pakistan fit into it and in what way?
What are your suggestions for improving an understanding
between the Soviet Union and Pakistan and what irritants you
think have prevented good-neighbourly friendly relations?”
Answer: “As for our proposals on establishing a zone of peace

and security in the Indian Ocean, they are close to the views of
the Indian Government presented by Mr Prime Minister here.
Gorbachev altered the course of Pak-Soviet ties.
“We are ready to participate in a process which would lead to

security for all the littoral states, including Pakistan. This would
meet the interests of the entire Indian Ocean community, the
interests of development and cooperation.
“As for the sources of our optimism about the settlement of the
situation around Afghanistan, I think there are new
developments both in the Cordovez Mission [and] in the striving
of other states, including the Soviet Union, to have this problem
settled. …
“Lastly, relations between the Soviet Union and Pakistan. We are

known to have always cooperated with Pakistan and made our
contributions even in difficult times to lessen tension in that part
of Asia. We are ready to act in this manner today as well. We
hope that Pakistan, too, will think over its position with a view to
general interest in the normalisation of the situation in the
region.”
He knew fully well that the war in Afghanistan could not be

ended without the help and cooperation of Pakistan. Relations
between the Soviet Union and Pakistan were not always bad. In
1956, A.I. Mikoyan, first deputy premier of Russia, said that the
future of Kashmir would, in the ultimate analysis, be determined
by the people of Kashmir.
At Tashkent in January 1966, the Soviet leader Kosygin played

mediator. In March 1969, Marshal Grechko, the Soviet defence
minister, visited both India and Pakistan. To India he presented
the draft of a treaty. That the Soviet Union was veering towards
non-alignment in Indo-Pak disputes was brought out sharply in
the remarks made by the visiting Soviet minister for culture,
Ekaterina Furtseva, when, at a news conference in Madras, a
correspondent asked her about the supply of Soviet tanks to
Pakistan. Mrs Furtseva retorted “Didn’t we supply arms to your
country?”, adding, “We have friendly relations with both India
and Pakistan and we believe that if we do not support your
country and not be friendly with Pakistan the conflict between
the two countries would be deeper.”
A correspondent persisted: “Will it not be better if the Soviet

Union refrained from arms supply to both India and Pakistan”.
The Soviet minister’s reply was devastating: “I do not know of
any government which has so far refused to receive arms. Will
you please name such a government?” However, not always has
the supplier obliged the suppliant for arms.
That the Soviet Union was determined to establish a rapport with
Pakistan was evident from the remarks which Grechko made in
Pakistan. He said that Pakistan was being supplied with Russian
arms in order to fight her “enemy”. The Soviet deputy naval chief
Smirnov reportedly said that “a powerful Pakistan Navy would
be a good precondition for peace in this part of the Indian
Ocean.”
Grechko was due to visit Dacca, but news of the second clash
between Soviet and Chinese forces on the Ussuri obliged him to
cut short his visit.
Since the Tashkent Declaration, the results of Soviet mediation,

the USSR tried to play a mediatory card between India and
Pakistan. It changed in the Bangladesh crisis in 1971. In this
century the Russian Federation has been overtly friendly
towards Pakistan, with its traditional trade and defence ties with
India intact.
The Soviet Union’s tilt against Pakistan is gone. Russia-Pakistan

relations are friendly. Gorbachev would have approved of it
heartily.

Do parties understand youth bulge?
dawn.com/news/1709346/do-parties-understand-youth-bulge
September 9, 2022
PAKISTAN is the 46th youngest country with a median age of 20.4

years among 237 countries and territories in the world,
according to UN Population Division statistics released this year.
Among nine (if Iran is included) South Asian countries, Pakistan
is the second youngest, ranked only after Afghanistan. According
to the 2017 population census, 64 per cent of the country’s
population was under 30 years and more than 60 million or 29pc
of the total population belonged to the 15-to-29-years segment
categorised as youth.
According to Election Commission figures for registered voters

released in November 2021, the largest of the six age cohorts is
that of registered voters from 18 to 29 years; it contains 35.57m
or 29.4pc of total registered voters.
Despite this extraordinarily high number of young voters who
have the ability to swing the election outcome in any direction,
political parties in Pakistan have played very little role in
recognising their importance and bringing youth to the polling
stations. Gallup Pakistan exit polls indicate that the average
turnout of young voters in Pakistan in the past eight elections
was about 31pc which is a whopping 13 percentage points
behind the 44pc average turnout of voters of all ages. In the 2018
election, the young voters’ turnout significantly increased to 37pc
compared to 26pc in 2013 but even this larger youth voter
turnout was 14.5 percentage points behind the overall voter
turnout of 51.5pc.
The youth voter turnout in neighbouring India with almost

similar socioeconomic conditions is much higher. Although the
average overall voter turnout of 62.6pc in the past five elections
is also higher in India than Pakistan’s statistic of 44.5pc for the
last eight general elections, the young voter turnout in India does
not lag behind as much. In fact, the youth voter turnout in the
past two Lok Sabha elections of 2014 and 2019 surpassed the
overall voter turnout. This stark contrast between the youth
voter turnout in the two countries calls for serious introspection
by our social scientists, the ECP and, above all, political parties
which are supposed to be the prime mobilisers of voters.
The overall percentage of young candidates across political parties is much less
than what the percentage of young voters warrants.
Political parties’ share of youth votes in elections has been a

subject of much speculation. Exit polls are the only scientific tool
to provide a reasonably accurate assessment of youth support to
political parties in elections. Gallup exit polls conducted during
the 2013 and 2018 elections indicated a near reversal of youth
voters’ support for the PML-N and PTI. The PML-N had enjoyed
the support of 30.5pc of young voters of 18 to 29 years in the 2013
election which dwindled to 22pc in 2018. On the other hand, PTI
support among the same age group of voters increased from
23.5pc in 2013 to 34pc in 2018. PPP support remained stagnant at
13pc in both the elections. Realising that the overall vote share of
the PML-N was 23.66pc in the 2018 election, its support among
the youth was slightly lower than the overall support. In the case
of PTI, the youth voters’ support was higher than the overall
party vote share of 31pc. The PPP’s youth vote share was slightly
higher than its overall vote share of 12.67pc. These figures
indicate that in 2018, the PTI had greater and the PPP slightly
greater appeal for young voters than for other age groups which
is contrary to the case of the PML-N.
Another interesting aspect of youth involvement in political

parties is the extent to which each party accommodated young
people among its roster of candidates for elections. An analysis of
the candidates fielded by various parties in 2018 election is quite
instructive. Ten major political parties including the PTI, PML-N,
PPP (two parties are registered with the ECP), MMA, MQM-P, ANP,
NP, BNP-M and TLP fielded 3,606 candidates for 841
constituencies of the national and the four provincial assemblies
in the 2018 election, out of which only 686 or just 19pc could be
categorised as young, ie, 35 years and below. This compared
unfavourably with the number of young voters of age 35 and
below which constituted 46pc of the total votes, according to
statistics released by the ECP. This means that the overall
percentage of young candidates across the spectrum of political
parties is much less than what the percentage of young voters
warrants.
The variation of the percentage of young candidates across
political parties is also interesting to analyse. For example, the
PTI which is generally regarded as a party of the youth and is
perceived to be the most pro-youth party, fielded only 129
candidates of 35 years or below which translates to 16.58pc of its
total 778 candidates for the national and four provincial
assemblies. This percentage is below the average percentage of
young candidates fielded by all 10 political parties studied and
half of the 34pc share of young voters which PTI received in
2018. Young candidates constituted only 13pc of the total
candidates fielded by PML-N for the national and provincial
assemblies, while the PPP fielded 16.78pc young candidates.
Surprisingly, though, the highest percentage — 36pc — of young

candidates was offered by the TLP in the 2018 election. The
Balochistan-based National Party is the only other party which
offered above average (19.57pc) young candidates in the election.
In the ranking of parties which fielded a higher number of young
candidates in 2018, the TLP, therefore stands on top followed by
the NP, MQM-P, MMA and PPP. The PTI is much lower down at
sixth position in terms of percentage of young candidates. The
PML-N ranks eighth.
It is surprising that political parties in Pakistan have paid far less

attention to the youth in general and young voters and
candidates in particular, despite the high number, greater
passion and social media activism of young voters. It remains to
be seen whether things will significantly change in the next
election and which party is able to mobilise and attract a greater
percentage of young voters. But one thing is obvious: the youth, if
successfully mobilised, will be the single most important factor in
swinging the next election.
The writer is president of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative
Development And Transparency.
president@pildat.org
Twitter: @ABMPildat

Culpable for injustice
dawn.com/news/1709347/culpable-for-injustice
September 9, 2022
PAKISTAN is widely branded as the seventh country most

affected by climate change. We call attention to our negligible
contribution to global warming compared to other parts of the
world. Yet, on our 75th anniversary, nature’s wrath has exposed
how callous we too have been as a nation in ignoring warning
signals of the looming threats of climate change and rampant
population growth — with dire consequences.
It is no coincidence that the hundreds of harrowing stories

emerging from this calamity focus on the predicament of poor
and pregnant women with more than five children. Already
severely disadvantaged, the floods have only exacerbated their
situation and the media is transmitting images of those who are
most powerless and most affected by the devastation. These
women must now deliver babies and nurse them in precarious
circumstances unfit even for animals.
A large part of this was avoidable. We have neglected the

reproductive health of the millions of women and children
already lacking family planning, delivery and maternal care
services. Much alarm has been expressed that close to a million
women in the most severely affected areas are currently
pregnant. But it should come as no surprise that those regions
most adversely affected by the floods are the ones with the
highest fertility, maternal and child mortality rates. These areas
are largely deprived of family planning services and essential
information, for instance, most rural women in Sindh and
Balochistan still deliver in unsafe conditions remote from any
health facilities. In contrast, most pregnant women in urban
Pakistan deliver in institutions.
In a catastrophe of the kind, unseen anywhere in the world, we

— the educated — are culpable for many injustices because this
was a tragedy foretold. We lament that national and
international relief are only reaching a fraction of the millions
whose lives and livelihoods were swept away last month. But
these were the same populations who were living in makeshift
housing and who eked out a living far from major roadways and
with no access to services. Living on the edge with their multiple
vulnerabilities and now displaced under open skies, they
desperately await our help. The saddest part is that most want to
return to their wretched conditions, resigned to their fate of
toiling in the fields and tending livestock under the scorching
sun. We prefer to look away from living conditions we ourselves
would never endure.
We have neglected the health of millions of women and children.
For a study on Impacts of Climate Change in Vulnerable

Communities in Sindh, Pakistan, in 2021, the Population Council
conducted interviews in poor communities in two districts most
prone to climate risk — Umerkot and Thatta. We confirmed that
climate change was already a known reality in these
communities. Unseasonable weather patterns leading to
droughts followed by floods were already posing threats to
health and livelihoods.
A man from Kambhar Badha, Umerkot, said: “If the family must
evacuate, then women suffer the most, they must face difficulties
during and after the move. Men can live anywhere but women
suffer [more] on account of insecurity and [lack of] privacy.”
Many focused on women’s suffering from multiple hazards: “Our

villages are submerged in water. We have no safe place to live.
We don’t even have a place to keep our livestock and there is no
fodder available for them when heavy rains hit. During heavy
rainfall, no one can reach our village and many pregnant women
are likely to die,” said a woman from Izzat Khan Lashari, Thatta.
For a decade or more, thousands have been forced to migrate

annually from their homes devastated by droughts, forest fires
and floods. Year after year, they must give up everything and
start again. Despite their poverty and illiteracy, many living in
the climate vulnerable zones know that their best chance for
survival is to move to an urban area. Only a few fortunate
enough to own land or have an education make it to the
urbanised districts which are more resilient to climate change.
Yet even there, the glaringly obvious exponential increase in
urban populations that puts a strain on existing resources goes
unaddressed. Elsewhere, climate change strategies ignore the
mushrooming of fragile structures being built for shelter that
encroach upon river and canal beds.
The important point is that from Gilgit-Baltistan to Sindh, climate

and population pressures were manifesting even before the
deadly floods. This has led to shortages in food because of the
negative impact on our ecology and biodiversity as well as
livelihoods, thereby exacerbating regional inequalities. Most
apparent are the contrasts between better-off regions like the
irrigated plains of Punjab and wet mountains and plains of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa versus the sandy desert of southern
Punjab, the southern irrigated plains of Sindh and the western
dry plateau of Balochistan. According to the Council’s research,
the former areas with lower temperatures were able to build
considerable resilience through migration, remittances, and
investments in infrastructure. The latter, where temperature
rises are most pronounced, had no adaptation strategies. These
areas rely mainly on agriculture and livestock, now destroyed by
the floods.
The tragedy facing Pakistan is sounding a loud alarm for our

collective conscience. Sustainable solutions to climate change
must take an honest look at the circumstances and explanations
of this tragedy. We must focus on our own injustices, find our
own solutions, rather than clamouring for and depending on
international assistance.
Obvious recommendations are building resilience through

adaptation in agriculture, dams for water storage and energy
usage, and infrastructure development. However, the underlying
deeper problems which face our nation in its 75th year of
existence, need to be tackled with greater urgency.
Have we consciously neglected the escalation of inequalities and
rising swathes of poverty over the last two decades?
Could the scale of the tragedy have been mitigated, had we been
more vigilant about rebuilding outdated crumbling
infrastructure, focused on the agricultural sector and, above all,
prioritised health services and education in agro-climatic regions
prone to climate risk?
And finally, had we addressed rapid population growth as a

national priority, would we have avoided the shocking numbers
severely affected by this catastrophe?
The writer is Country Director, Population Council.

Air strikes in Aleppo
dawn.com/news/1709182/air-strikes-in-aleppo
September 9, 2022
THOUGH the horrific violence witnessed during the peak of the

Syrian civil war has largely subsided, the Levantine country may
become the centre of a new regional conflagration if Israeli
brinksmanship is not kept in check. For the second time in a
week, the Jewish state struck civilian facilities at Aleppo airport,
a provocation the Syrian government has termed a ‘war crime’.
Ever since the Syrian conflict began in 2011, Tel Aviv is believed
to have carried out ‘hundreds’ of air strikes in Syria, targeting
Iran’s assets in the country. Apparently, Israel fears Tehran is
bolstering the capabilities of its key ally Hezbollah in Syria, while
operatives of the Pasdaran — better known as the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard — are also believed to be present on the
ground in Syria. In the past, Israel has struck civilian
infrastructure at Damascus airport, while the Americans have
also targeted Iranian assets in Syria.
There can be no justification for Israel targeting civilian

infrastructure in a sovereign country. Under the garb of ‘self-
defence’, Tel Aviv risks igniting a far larger conflict by constantly
striking Syria, particularly by targeting Iran and its allied
militias. Interestingly, the Iranian side has shown restraint, and
apart from rhetoric, Tehran has not responded in kind to Israeli
provocations. Moreover, Hezbollah — which helped liberate
much of south Lebanon from Israeli occupation — has also kept
its guns relatively quiet since its 2006 war with Israel, apart from
coming to the Assad regime’s defence. If Tel Aviv is keen to tinker
with the status quo, then it should be prepared for the
consequences. These would likely entail a regional war pitting
Israel, its American patron and their regional clients against Iran
and its proxies. If the world thinks the Ukraine war has had a
profound effect on energy prices, then any Middle Eastern
con ict will likely send prices through the roof as this
fl
petrochemical-rich region is destabilised. That is why Israel
needs to be reined in, lest it sets the region a re through a new
fi
war.
For daily Editorial video,

Dawn Highlights, pdfs,
join our paid whatsapp
Opinion
group, charges 200rs

easypaisa/month to
03124191070 or Jazzcash
200rs/month to
03064368023
Politics of gifts - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1709183/politics-of-gifts
September 9, 2022
AFTER a year spent deflecting questions from the media and

stonewalling the authorities, there is some light in the
Toshakhana case. On Wednesday, PTI chief Imran Khan
submitted a reply to the Election Commission of Pakistan
wherein he conceded he had sold at least four precious gifts he
had received while he was prime minister. According to him, he
had procured the items from the state treasury on payment of
Rs21.56m and their sale had fetched him around Rs58m. As per
Toshakhana rules, any gift assessed to be worth less than
Rs30,000 can be retained without any payment to the exchequer.
The former premier in his response to the ECP maintained that
from July 2018 till Dec 31, 2021 he received a total of 58 gifts, out
of which he paid for 14. Mr Khan’s lawyer has urged the ECP
bench to quash the case on grounds of it being based on “political
motives”.
Politics is indeed being played over the Toshakhana, once a little-

known department where gifts from foreign dignitaries to
government officials, bureaucrats, etc are stored. Consider the
rather gimmicky move by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to put
on display the gifts he received on his official trips to Saudi
Arabia and the UAE this year and the government notification
stating he does not wish to retain any of them. The objective of
this ‘transparency’ is clearly to draw a stark contrast with his
predecessor’s cageyness over the issue. Mr Khan should have
paid heed to the adage, ‘people in glass houses should not throw
stones’. After all, his government had filed references against Asif
Ali Zardari, Yousuf Raza Gilani and Nawaz Sharif for allegedly
abusing the Toshakhana rules in relation to some gifted luxury
vehicles. But last September when the Pakistan Information
Commission sought details of the gifts presented to Mr Khan,
then prime minister, his government refused, claiming
implausibly that such disclosure would damage international
ties. That gave rise to speculation and then, when the coalition
government came to power, to outright allegations about
irregularities in the handling of the gifts. Certainly, as Fawad
Chaudhry said in his party leader’s defence, “selling one’s own
assets is not a crime”, but it is well known that undervaluing of
precious items in the Toshakhana is far from uncommon and
affords the recipient an extraordinary financial advantage. That
is not good optics for a party leader claiming to be a man of the
people.
Opinion
Alphabet conspiracy
dawn.com/news/1709184/alphabet-conspiracy
September 9, 2022
THERE is renewed talk of regime change in Punjab. Just a few

days after local media, quoting sources, started reporting about a
PDM plan for another ‘in-house change’ in the province, PTI
chairman Imran Khan has once again pointed his finger at the
mysterious ‘Mr X’ and ‘Mr Y’ — the alphabet bogeymen of
modern Pakistani politics. The former prime minister claims the
two individuals, understood to be from national security
institutions, are leading an effort to once again overthrow the
coalition government in the country’s largest province. Mr Khan
has claimed that they are calling PTI and PML-Q lawmakers and
either tempting them with bribes or coercing them to change
their allegiances. Mr X and Mr Y had earlier featured in Mr
Khan’s speeches ahead of the crucial July by-elections in Punjab,
when he first accused them of engineering the elections to
ensure a victory for the PML-N. His fears then had not completely
materialised, however, as the PTI managed to seize more than
the expected number of seats in those polls and retake the
Punjab government with the help of its old ally, the PML-Q.
It is unclear at the moment whether Mr Khan, who has recently

grown increasingly confrontational in his stand-off with both the
establishment and the government, has a genuine reason to
believe that the prized domain of Punjab is once again being
wrested from him to cut him down to size, or whether he is just
bolstering his victimhood narrative ahead of the by-polls
scheduled for Sept 11, as he did in July. Whatever the case may
be, it is clear from the blanket censorship he has recently been
subjected to that some quarters wish him gone. Driving his party
out of the Punjab government would, in his opponents’ view,
greatly restrict the space Mr Khan currently enjoys as he
canvasses up and down the province to win public support.
Restricting Mr Khan would also give the PML-N the room that the
party desperately needs to stretch its wings and reach its core
constituencies in Punjab, which it has remained physically
isolated from ever since the PML-Q took control of the provincial
administration.
This is political drama that Pakistan really does not need. It is a

shame that the country’s politicians and other power players are
still showing no signs that they can reach an arrangement to
coexist, if only so that could provide some measure of stability to
a nation which is being roiled by a worsening economic crisis
and the countrywide destruction caused by relentless rains and
floods. The game of musical chairs in Punjab is a disgraceful
reflection of our power elites’ priorities during a grave national
crisis and is a testament to their shameless self-interest at a time
when millions have been rendered destitute by the widespread
floods which should have headed the list of national concerns.
Opinion
Tapping phones - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1709185/tapping-phones
September 9, 2022
THE recent ‘leak’ of private telephonic conversations between an

ex-federal finance minister and two provincial finance ministers,
all belonging to a political party opposing the centre, has raised
many important questions about the privacy of Pakistani
citizens’ telecommunications from government surveillance.
Article 14 of the Constitution emphatically guarantees our

citizens the right to dignity and privacy which cannot be violated
unless by law. But what chance does Article 14 have against an
unchecked, unrestricted, obscure, opaque and state-of-the-art
surveillance regime?
Most of our laws have granted the federal government vague and
overbroad powers to surveil our telephonic communications.
Even before the conception of Pakistan, Section 5 of the ancient
Telegraph Act 1885 allowed colonial authorities and now our
federal government to intercept any telegraphs “on the
occurrence of any public emergency, or, in the interest of the
public safety”. Similarly, Section 54 of the Pakistan
Telecommunication (Reorganisation) Act, 1996, also provides the
state carte blanche powers to intercept calls and messages or to
trace calls through any telecommunication system “in the
interest of national security or in the apprehension of any
offence” — despite the privacy protections provided by any other
law.
In the seminal case of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto vs the President

of Pakistan, in which the government was found to have been
involved in illegally tapping the phones of political opponents
with the covert support of state intelligence agencies, the
Supreme Court said: “In our country, hardly there is any effective
law, to check this menace and illegal act … No procedure has
been laid down for regulating the tapping, taping or
eavesdropping of private or official telephones … we find that
tapping of telephones and eavesdropping of any person is
reprehensible, immoral, illegal and unconstitutional act.”
We have an unchecked surveillance regime.
In that seminal case, the SC held that as long as no proper law

was legislated which protected the violation of constitutional
rights of privacy and freedom of speech due to unlawful
government surveillance, the government will have to get
permission from a commission or the SC itself, on a case-to-case
basis, prior to conducting any future phone-tapping operation —
and this permission shall not extend beyond six weeks.
Finally, in 2013, parliament managed to pass a law which

attempted to regulate some of the surveillance activities of the
state. The Investigation for Fair Trial Act provides intelligence
and law-enforcement agencies sweeping powers to intercept
telephonic calls, electronic messages and take over any
communication equipment if there is a reasonable threat or
possibility that the suspect shall attempt to commit a scheduled
offence. However, law-enforcement agencies are required to
inform and justify any wiretapping activity before carrying it out
by applying for authorisation to the federal government through
the interior minister, and then requiring a high court judge to
issue a warrant.
Many carefully crafted oversight mechanisms are placed in the

law to provide some protection to citizens from unwarranted
surveillance. The authorisation by the federal interior minister
and the issuance of warrant by a judge requires the agency to
provide all details regarding the investigation and the specific
objectives for the surveillance activity; and without the interior
minister’s authorisation no intelligence agency can approach a
judge for a warrant.
Furthermore, judges can only authorise the warrant if in their

opinion the requested surveillance is justified and not unduly
interfering with the right of privacy of a person or place; judges
can also modify any aspect of the warrant relating to the
modalities or duration of the requested surveillance. Issued
warrants also need to be renewed in six days only after the judge
is presented with the material obtained through the surveillance
and feels the intended objective is being met and not unjustly
interfering with the person’s privacy. The law also sets up a
complaint mechanism, penalises the misuse of data gathered in a
surveillance operation authorised under this law and
criminalises illegal wiretapping by any person, including officials
of law-enforcement agencies.
Unfortunately, it seems this law is not worth the paper it is

written on because beautifully worded laws which are not
enforced by either the government, parliament or the highest
courts of our land are useless protections. It seems our state
doesn’t seem to care that placing an ear to the telephone of every
citizen of Pakistan not only obliterates any concept of
communication privacy, but also freezes our right to speak freely
as guaranteed by Article 19 of the Constitution. So be careful
when you pick up the phone — Big Brother is listening.
The writer is a data privacy and technology law specialist.
omerimranmalik@gmail.com

Flood aftermath - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1709186/flood-aftermath
September 9, 2022
THE deluge in Pakistan has devastated Sindh, Balochistan and

parts of Punjab. The accounts that have been pouring in are
overwhelming. It is beyond my imagination to even visualise the
magnitude of the tragedy.
I wonder what must be the situation for the people experiencing

it. I feel the anguish in Naween Mangi’s and Sadiqa Salahuddin’s
emails describing the scale of the destruction. It dashed to the
ground what they had toiled to build over the years. It seemed it
was back to square one again, and thousands of us, who shared
with them their dreams, feel dejected.
The foreign media have been quick to report the catastrophe in
words and images capturing the beauty of the colours of the
waters that played havoc with the lives of humankind.
The flood is described as being the worst of this century with

one-third of Pakistan under water, 33 million people displaced
from their homes to become internally displaced persons (IDPs)
and over 1,300 dead. It is said the livestock in Sindh was washed
away and thus ended the livelihood of thousands of women.
Some places were worse hit than others. In Kheiro Dero,
(Naween’s village) 60 per cent of the homes were destroyed or
severely damaged.
The impact of the deluge has been compounded by man-made factors.
Next came the relief stage and this brought out the best and the
worst in human nature. As Pakistanis are world-famous for their
philanthropy, they opened up their purse strings and donations
began to flow in to fund the relief operations organised by the
NGOs who mobilised their staff to help the affected population.
National giants such as the ever-present Edhi Foundation were
joined by the newly budded JDC led by Zafar Abbas. This time
many international and Islamic NGOs were missing. Had they
been eased out to comply with FATF-imposed regulations?
Various officials have responded with great zeal but their past
performance has robbed them of credibility. They always work
with an eye on the camera. Here is something straight from the
horse’s mouth. At an IDP camp set up on the outskirts of Karachi
there was suddenly a big stir as a truck loaded with quilts and
small packets of biscuits arrived on the scene trailing a cavalcade
of cars carrying dignitaries. There followed a brief ceremony as
some of the goods were unloaded and the worthy officials posed
for photos. The cameras clicked non-stop. With the ceremony
over, the quilts were loaded back on the truck and the entourage
moved on. Mercifully, the biscuits were not snatched back from
the children.
Small wonder that private organisations rejected the

government’s offer to distribute their goods. There were reports
of violence at some distribution spots and firearms were used.
However, very welcome have been the members of the medical

profession who offered their services willingly. Their presence
has been extremely reassuring for the traumatised flood affected,
which include hundreds of pregnant women. The doctors were
welcomed heartily as the floods had left injuries and diseases in
their wake which needed to be tended to immediately.
The army is said to have played an exemplary role by rescuing

people from a watery grave and carrying them to safety. It is not
clear why our security personnel were apparently not used for
some other crucial assignments including traffic management on
the clogged highways to facilitate the relief operation.
Floods are generally treated as natural disasters. In Pakistan,

their disastrous impact is compounded by man-made factors. In
Sindh for instance, the road network has basic structural defects
that can be attributed to poor planning and a tendency to cut
corners in construction. There are no drains on the roadsides or
bridges where they are needed. This ensures the accumulation of
water in traps formed by poorly planned elevated roads. There is
no provision for dewatering the various enclosed low-lying areas
that dot the province.
Even in this time of crisis, the inequality in our society is stark.
The big landholders have the resources to pump out water, often
disposing of it in a poorer neighbour’s property. The roots of
corruption and oppression run deep. Is justice dead? People are
angry and one doesn’t know when the cup of patience will be full
and hold no more. What they will not lose is their dignity
because it has already been lost in their normal life that itself is
no less than a natural disaster.
Ayesha Siddiqa, the author of Military Inc., says that Pakistan’s

contribution towards climate change — one cause of the floods —
is miniscule. The West’s role in creating this phenomenon has
been stupendous. Yet it has donated no more than peanuts for
flood relief. She is right. But charity begins at home. Has not our
government denied its people their basic rights and justice? We
can make a start right away by addressing the issue of social
justice at home.
www.zubeidamustafa.com

Disaster orthodoxy in Pakistan
dawn.com/news/1709187/disaster-orthodoxy-in-pakistan
September 9, 2022
ALMOST 40 years ago, ‘disaster orthodoxy’ started being

challenged and critiqued in Western societies by researchers
such as Kenneth Hewitt, Paul Susman and Phil O’Keefe, amongst
others. According to Kathleen Tierney, a renowned professor of
sociology, ‘disaster orthodoxy’ is the understanding that disasters
are unexpected, unfortunate events that are suddenly thrust
upon societies and cause normal functions and societal
structures to be disrupted. This viewpoint largely absolves state
institutions and the organisations (that are tasked to improve
land-use plans, protect the marginalised, work towards
sustainable development), for not taking responsibility for
putting vulnerable communities in harm’s way.
Disaster orthodoxy, unfortunately, still exists in our part of the
world. We need to practise caution when we use the terms
‘natural disaster’, ‘climate catastrophe’ or ‘monsoon monster’ to
explain the current destruction caused by floods triggered by the
monsoon rains in Pakistan. These terms are used widely in
practice and research relating to disasters induced by natural
hazards. But we must realise that nature is not against our
marginalised people in rural Pakistan. We as a nation should be
collectively blamed for putting our marginalised communities in
harm’s way time and again. This is not God’s fury to punish
sinners; we are the culprits and inaction is our sin.
We the urban dwellers residing in our secure homes and caring

least about the katchi abadis and slums a few blocks away from
where we reside; we the government not creating local capacity
to mitigate and prepare for the threats posed by natural hazards
both in urban centres and in rural areas; and we the politicians
fighting endlessly for power. This is a collective apathy and
failure that requires action.
First, let us stop calling it a ‘natural disaster’. Yes, floods are a

natural hazard but the destruction is mostly human-induced and
exacerbated by our dwelling patterns, our patterns of
deforestation, our weak structural and non-structural mitigation
methods, our quality of building standards and the way we have
geographically, socially and economically marginalised our
impoverished population. Flood disasters in Pakistan are socially
constructed due to decades of negligence, inaction and weak
governance. We have created large bodies for managing disasters
at the federal level (NDMA and the Federal Flood Commission)
and at the provincial levels (PDMAs) but not much progress has
been made to truly developing district-level disaster
management systems.
Flood disasters in Pakistan are socially constructed due to decades of
negligence.
Although the NDMA Act of 2010 requires each district to establish

a district disaster management authority, haphazard progress
has been made to achieve this goal. Recently, the district of
Muzaffargarh developed a comprehensive district disaster
management plan with financial and technical assistance
provided by UK-DFID and UNDP after eight months of
consultations with local government and local stakeholders. A
key question needs to be answered: is this model plan being
implemented in nearby flood-affected districts such as Rajanpur?
A plan without the inherent local capacity to implement is
questionable. A DDMA that is not designed to work all year long
on mitigation measures and preparedness activities but is
activated when a threat is imminent is also questionable. It
should be called a ‘Disaster Operations Centre’ if its work is
restricted to monitoring and facilitating immediate relief during
a disaster. Our reactive and orthodox disaster management style
requires change.
Second, if we want to manage the ‘climate catastrophe’ or tame

the so-called ‘monsoon monster’ effectively then we need to
carry out local asset-mapping in every locality and district of the
country whether it is prone to disasters or not. Each district
needs detailed risk assessment and a disaster management
centre/office that is engaged in proactive management of risks
and threats. Ideally, this entity needs to be separate from the
existing administrative units tasked with the day-to-day running
of affairs in the district. Each district needs to identify the
existing assets in their community such as first responders (the
police, Rescue 1122 teams, the armed forces), local NGOs, local
businesses, retail outlets that can provide quick relief goods,
tents for shelter, etc. If an administrative unit does not have the
required assets (as we saw this year in the deadly fire incident in
a Dadu village), it needs to have MoUs with neighbouring
districts so when a threat is imminent institutional help, without
red tape, can arrive in time.
Third, restoration, reconstruction and rehabilitation in flood-

impacted communities will be an arduous task. Community
engagement in developing comprehensive community
development plans, that include disaster management, and land-
use planning will help to build resilient and empowered
communities that bring local experience and knowledge for
creating environmentally sustainable development paths for
local districts. Restoration and restructuring after the floods must
involve careful engagement with local engineers, local planners,
local architects, local teachers, local doctors, and volunteers
alongside our traditional administrators. If we were to approach
this in a holistic way, we will be able to manage disasters that are
inflicted due to natural or man-induced hazards in a better way.
At this point, when immediate relief is the need of the hour,

battling threats of malnutrition in women and children, setting
up medical camps to combat waterborne diseases, and providing
shelter for survival are all essential. I do not want to be critical of
the institutional efforts that are underway because everyone
needs to engage in managing this mega catastrophe in an
effective manner and the reach of the state cannot be compared.
However, when the storm is over, we need to change the way we
view and manage disasters in Pakistan. Local capacity for
managing disasters needs to be developed or else we will have
the same script: slow realisation of a disaster; a national
declaration of disaster; looking for international aid; a
bureaucratic response with layers of red tape; lots of politics; and
lots of blame games.
The writer is an assistant professor at Lums at the Humanities and

Social Science Department.

Flood notes - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1709188/flood-notes
September 9, 2022
FIRST, a few snapshots from the road with water dunes on both
sides, as far as one can see. These frames are now going to live
with me.
A large family of old women, men and children sleeping under a

parked truck on the side of a non-functional petrol pump and a
young emaciated man sitting as a guard using the truck tyre as
back support.
A huge brown-pink-green camel corpse with a long folded neck

resting on the side in the water after floating around.
A limp body of an adolescent boy with a naked upper half and

blue shalwar being brought to a medical camp followed by a
small crowd. The boy was drowning. Not clear if he is still alive.
We don’t have any appreciation of preventive healthcare and our system is
entirely curative.
A very old man with a beard sitting in shallow water by the

roadside with his face in the middle of his two kneecaps and a
big staff, with an old hand emerging out of the water to support
himself and his floating dhoti around him. His eyes are fixed in
the air on nothing. I don’t understand why he is sitting there. A
young naked boy with a protruding tummy standing beside him
on a dry patch.
A child sleeping on a solar plate.
A biting soundbite: “photo wala hai ya kuch deney wala hai” (is
he just here to take a photo or is he going to dole out something).
Today’s column is made up of excerpts from my notes, on the

road to some of the flood-hit areas.
“I am here with a member of a board of trustees of the Islamic

Medical Association of North America and his small team from
Alight (formerly the American Refugee Committee). It is a short,
exploratory visit to see from close the devastation caused by the
floods and how the affected people can be supported in their
struggle to survive. Healthcare is our special focus.”
“We landed in Sukkur, went straight to some medical camps set

up on the side of a narrow road among the tents where the
people are living. On one side of the road there is an ocean of
water and somewhere in the water these people had their
homes.”
“A man tells us that we have travelled inside this water on a boat

for three and a half hours to provide relief goods to people still
there. Some of them are sick and we are providing them with
medicines through mobile teams on boats. Their houses are
slightly on elevated land so they are there. This is just besides the
Indus.”
“After Sukkur, we keep driving on Shikarpur road, pass Lakhi,

pass Shikarpur, pass Lodra, pass Sultankot, pass Humaayoon
Shareef, pass Dera Allah Yar and reach Dera Murad Jamali. We
stop at some places just to see the devastation caused by the
water, hapless people trying to find shade and food, with some of
them running besides vehicles asking for something.”
“Each camp here receives around 500 patients but some camps
are more busy than others. Two key issues causing people to turn
to medical camps are diarrhoea and skin problems.”
“A senior dermatologist from Sukkur, a local medical director of

Alkhidmat Foundation is going to these camps and managing 60
others; he saw 1,800 patients himself in one camp the other day
and now he himself is down with diarrhoea and a backache. He
still invited us to his place and we had the most useful discussion
with him about the health challenges, healthcare provision and
the inadequacies.”
“We don’t have any appreciation of preventive healthcare and

our system is entirely curative. Handwashing, antenatal care,
childbirth planning, proper nutrition of pregnant women and
young children, safe drinking water — we don’t do anything
about prevention. Healthcare means you have to be sick, you
have to be seen by a doctor and you should be taking medicines
and injections. What we need to do is to expand the concept of
healthcare in the minds of the people as not just limited to
curative care.”
“We are just seeing the beginning of diseases as a result of the
floods. The scale of this calamity is such that it is going to create
huge health crises in the country in the coming days and we
should brace ourselves for it.”
“A very well-informed and articulate local organiser, a young

man, explains to us that with only an interval of few hours, there
were nine days of non-stop heavy rain. ‘We haven’t seen
anything like this in our entire lives. Our parents and elderly
grandparents haven’t seen anything like this in their entire lives.
It was silent and constant heavy rain. No thunder, no lightning,
nothing, just constant water pouring from the sky. And then after
some days, the houses started crumbling one by one, animals
start drowning one by one. We didn’t know what to do, where to
go’.”
“He continues: ‘local administrations in these areas are in the

pockets of local landlords. When government supplies arrive,
they are quietly driven to the private stores of these people from
where they never come back. The government is nowhere to be
seen during these floods. We are hardly receiving anything
except from welfare organisations’.”
“He explains to us how lack of planning and bad planning in

these areas have obstructed the natural flow of water and how
when badly planned built channels overflow they create havoc
in these areas. He has an impressive and intricate knowledge of
the local geology and topography and speaks with authority on
the dynamics of the floods.”
“The people you see on the sides of the roads in the tents and
camps are those who didn’t have money even to buy tickets to go
to the big cities for safety. Some of them are those who could save
their animals and cannot leave them behind. So, they are stuck
here. They are the poorest of the poor.”
“We don’t learn from our experiences. Every time we start from
scratch as if it is happening for the first time. There is no
coordination in response effort.”
“Climate change, yes, but governance failure in Pakistan is at the

root of all this.”
The writer is a former SAPM on health, professor of health systems

at Shifa Tameer-i-Millat University and WHO adviser on UHC.
zedefar@gmail.com

Dangerous streets
dawn.com/news/1709031/dangerous-streets
September 8, 2022
A FEW days into September, and street crime in Karachi is

already registering a disturbing escalation. At least eight people
have lost their lives at the hands of armed muggers while going
about their daily business, doing mundane things that those in
more well-ordered cities can take for granted. One of them was
having ice cream with his family while parked outside a
commercial establishment; he was shot in the head in front of his
wife and children. Late on Sunday, a young man in the
Liaquatabad area was robbed of his phone while watching a
cricket match on his cell phone; the criminals returned some
hours later, according to police, and shot him. And he was the
second victim of the day. Another young man had been slain
earlier when he tried to resist his phone being snatched from
him.
The city police have come under relentless criticism for their
failure to protect the residents. Karachi’s top cop has announced
a new police arm, the Shaheen Force, to curb street crime.
Equipped with radios and modern weapons, this unit would
comprise around 200 personnel, including sharpshooters —
ostensibly to take out the muggers. Given that such units have
been created in the past without much success, the Shaheen
Force seems yet another attempt to assuage public anger and
make the police appear to be doing something. Strategic planning
is essential in preventing street crime, such as extra patrolling
and CCTV cameras at ‘hotspots’ where muggers tend to
concentrate their activities. In any case, the ‘strategy’ of ‘police
encounters’ to bump off suspected muggers, which was
happening until some months ago, is brazenly illegal and, what’s
more, does not work. While it may have a temporary deterrent
effect, the long-term consequences of extrajudicial killings on the
functioning of a police force are ruinous. However, all said and
done, street crimes are symptomatic of deep-seated structural
problems such as income disparity and lack of social justice.
Policing alone is not sufficient to tackle street crime.
Opinion
YouTube blockage - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1709032/youtube-blockage
September 8, 2022
THE government has been at it again. Desperate not to allow the

PTI chairman more oxygen for his continuing, relentless
onslaught against the incumbent regime, it once again appears to
have utilised the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to
temporarily block access to YouTube on Tuesday night, during
the time Imran Khan was making a speech to supporters in
Peshawar. The blockage of the video-streaming platform was
confirmed by NetBlocks — an independent organisation that
tracks internet disruption and shutdowns around the world. “The
incident comes as former PM Imran Khan appears on screen to
livestream a speech on the platform, following a pattern
observed in August,” the organisation had noted in a tweet.
YouTube had also been temporarily blocked on Sunday, Aug 21,
when Mr Khan was addressing a rally in Rawalpindi. Industry
monitors say the PTA has been blocking YouTube using
technology recently acquired from a Canadian company, which
allows it to unilaterally block websites without much check and
balance.
The decision to block Mr Khan’s speech on YouTube came just a

day after the Islamabad High Court suspended Pemra’s blanket
ban on his speeches being aired on national television. That
order appears to have had little effect, however, with most
mainstream media outlets displaying remarkable homogeneity
in editorial decision-making in continuing to keep Mr Khan off-
air. Who or what is ‘inspiring’ this uniformity of action in what is
an otherwise divided industry is a question worth pondering
over; though it is also understandable that some newsroom
decision-makers may have been alarmed by ARY’s ordeal after it
gave free rein to the PTI. Whatever the case may be, the PDM
must realise that it is setting some very bad precedents which
can, given the vindictiveness that pollutes our politics, be
exploited by others when the tables turn against them. Therefore,
the PDM government should stop playing judge, jury and
executioner — for its own sake. If anything Mr Khan has said has
indeed exceeded the bounds of the law, it should be left to the
courts to decide as such and punish him accordingly. Throttling
him only appears to be making him an even greater martyr in
the eyes of his supporters. The media experienced some of the
worst forms of intimidation and censorship during the PTI’s
years in power: this government should stop perpetuating that
legacy. It is only the country’s fragile democracy that is suffering
as a result.
Opinion
Rupee’s struggle - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1709033/rupees-struggle
September 8, 2022
THE Pakistani currency has been under immense pressure for

several months now, with liquidity shortages disrupting the
foreign exchange market as is evident from the slumping rupee
and the widening gap between interbank trade and open
markets. Many are surprised that the rupee continues to lose its
value despite the restoration of the IMF’s bailout package. And
yet, this trend was not unexpected. The markets had already
factored in the IMF loan facility when the exchange rate
strengthened by 10.7pc to 213.90 to a dollar in interbank trade on
Aug 16 from a historic low of nearly 240 towards the end of July.
It might have sustained that level — even improved a bit — if the
‘brotherly’ Gulf countries had made good on their commitment to
provide $4bn in ‘safe deposits’ to help shore up the State Bank’s
dwindling reserves. The bank’s measures, aimed at restricting
imports at the cost of closure of some large industries to slow
down the dollar outflow, haven’t helped the rupee either.
That the country’s exchange rate has again dipped by 4.5pc to

223.42 to a dollar from its strongest level in mid-August indicates
that the rupee will remain under pressure — at least for some
time. Indeed, the dollar shortage is the primary reason for the
battering of the rupee. The recent market anxiety was instigated
by surging headline price inflation that spiked to its 47-year high
of 27pc last month, as well as the ongoing catastrophic floods that
have caused enormous economic losses across the country and
will likely further decelerate GDP growth in the near to medium
term against the pre-flood IMF projection of 3.5pc for the current
fiscal. Recessionary pressure building up in Europe and the US is
also likely to hurt growth in countries like Pakistan.
Besides inflation and flood damages, the escalating demand for

foreign currency from the open market by travellers, particularly
due to a UAE requirement for Pakistanis to carry 5,000 dirhams
on them, and the recent increase in food imports from
Afghanistan and Iran through informal channels, are also
worsening the rupee-dollar parity. No wonder the open market
price of the US currency is far above the interbank rate, or in the
range of Rs10 and Rs15 against a normal premium of up to Rs2.
While the nation’s economic fundamentals remain weak, the
deepening political uncertainty too continues to rattle the
currency markets. Since the ouster of Imran Khan, the rupee has
shed almost a quarter of its value in interbank trade. The rupee
will continue to tumble against the dollar unless the country gets
large cash injections in loans and flood-related aid from both
multilateral agencies and bilateral lenders. With the country
projected by the IMF to require external financing between
$31bn and $39bn a year till FY26 to avoid default, the rupee’s
road to stability and sustained recovery will be a long and
arduous one.

Opinion
Gender and disaster
dawn.com/news/1709034/gender-and-disaster
September 8, 2022
PAKISTAN is undergoing the worst of catastrophes due to

unprecedented monsoon rains and the ensuing floods. The exact
losses and damage to crops, homes, livelihoods and animals
cannot be ascertained at this stage as the devastation continues.
Natural disasters and calamities on their own are gender-neutral.

They affect everyone. However, the humanitarian crises they
cause impact the female population far more severely. UN
Assistant Secretary-General Asako Okai recently said that when
disaster strikes, women and children are 14 times more likely to
die than men. According to UN Women, more than 70 per cent of
women suffer various forms of gender-based discrimination in
humanitarian crises.
Women and girls are more vulnerable than men and boys in
times of calamity. Even more so when they are from the low- or
no-income section of society. These women and girls are given
least priority when it comes to rescue, relief and rehabilitation.
Therefore, they are the most exposed to devastation.
When disaster abates and (so-called) rehabilitation begins,

women are further pushed into poverty. Their workload
increases, they have less access to basic healthcare services and
education. They are given less preference in work and
employment opportunities. More often than not, their wages are
lower than their male counterparts’ and many more girls drop
out from schools than boys. Last but not least, women and girls
become vulnerable to greater sexual abuse, harassment and
human trafficking under calamitous conditions.
Women and girls suffer most during natural calamities.
Women in agriculture suffer the most having completely lost

their livelihoods. With no income and food scarcity, the levels of
malnutrition in women and girls increases. Many World Bank
reports are a testament to this fact. The majority of women farm
workers have never banked their savings, if ever they had any.
In disaster situations, shelter, food and drinkable water are

primary needs. Already malnourished women and girls are an
easy prey for waterborne diseases caused by unhygienic
conditions in camps and shelters.
Women in the rural areas already face reproductive health issues

due to a dearth of even basic maternal healthcare facilities as
well as trained qualified female doctors. When natural calamities
strike, pregnancy and childbirth put women at great risk and
increase their vulnerability especially if they are displaced, living
in camps and tents which are far from the city centres and
without healthcare facilities. The CARE Pakistan country director
has said: “When disasters like this hit, we know from experience
that it’s women, girls and other marginalised groups who face
the biggest challenges including access to humanitarian
assistance.”
Pregnant women have nowhere to give birth safely because

floods have washed away their homes and health facilities. Their
lives and the lives of their babies are jeopardised without proper
maternal healthcare.
Moreover, the damage to roads and bridges severely

compromises girls’ and women’s access to healthcare facilities,
whilst simultaneously reducing access to gender-based violence
prevention and response services. Medical and psychosocial
support to the survivors of GBV is virtually non-existent during
such times.
In such dire circumstances, it is imperative that women

lawmakers and political representatives put aside their
differences and come forward, along with other social activists,
to support and facilitate the government and relief agencies in
reaching out to the affected women. It is important not only to
rescue them from the immediate danger, but also to ensure that
women-friendly camps and shelters fulfil their basic needs and
are equipped with toilets, health and hygiene kits, clothes,
menstrual cloth/pads and nutrition supplements for expectant
mothers. Priority should then be accorded to providing
psychological and emotional support to women, who have been
hit by the floods, have lost family members and suffered dis-
placement.
There is a dire need for developing comprehensive gender-
segregated data on devastation and the impact of natural
disasters on women and girls. The issues and needs of women
and girls, especially those that the government and relief
organisations have missed, should be highlighted. Mainstream
media and social media need to report on the situation of women
and girls who have been displaced and are living in camps.
Despite experiencing several natural calamities, no government

has come up with a concrete disaster preparedness plan for the
future. Policies and plans should be based on lessons learnt.
Disaster management plans and disaster-risk reduction plans
should be developed, mainstreaming gender-responsive actions.
The needs of women and girls should be incorporated into

rescue, relief and rehabilitation plans. Opportunities can be
identified from the experience of the disaster to change
traditional gender roles and improve women’s participation in
rehabilitation and reconstruction initiatives.

The Pied Piper - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1709035/the-pied-piper
September 8, 2022
TO understand contemporary Pakistani politics, one needs to

revert to kindergarten. There, life ran to the rhythm of nursery
rhymes and fables.
Which one of us has forgotten Humpty Dumpty falling off the

wall? Or Jack and Jill climbing up the hill? Or Baa Baa Black
Sheep? Rumpelstiltskin or the vengeful Pied Piper of Hamelin?
Real life, however, does not end in the nursery. Maturity brings
with it a gamut of different characters. Yet echoes of those
rhymes permeate into our present.
Take the egg-head Humpty in Stanhope Place, London, whom all

the king’s horses and all the king’s men have not been able to
restore to the throne in Islamabad.
He wants to lead those who follow his new music into a land of no-return.
Take the two cousins — Hamza and Maryam — who went up the
hill in search of a pail of power, and tumbled down without it.
Take the former head of NAB who sought to shear a flock of black
sheep, and then lost them and blackened his own reputation.
Take the rotund banker Rumpelstiltskin who promised to spin

straw into gold and then advised finance ministers of two PTI-
controlled provinces — Punjab and KP — to sabotage the bitterly
needed IMF package. In the green days of the PTI government, its
commerce adviser threatened to re-examine CPEC. It took
numerous visits by high-ranking officials to mollify the Chinese
government. Didn’t anyone tell the former finance minister that
we need the IMF more than it needs us? Or does he propose
Citibank to be the new lender of last resort?
And now take our modern Pied Piper who entered Islamabad to
rid it of its rats. Having failed, he changed his tune and wants to
lead those who follow his new music into a land of no-return.
There cannot be a rational Pakistani anywhere who does not

recognise the chasm that has appeared in our political landscape.
It is worse than any caused by a natural earthquake in
Muzaffarabad in 2005, or the floods in 2010, and now again in
2022. This one is man-made. It has been created wilfully,
knowingly, and deliberately by those we elected to power in
2018.
The electoral promises they made then have been washed away,
like the belongings of their voters. ‘Naya Pakistan’ is
unrecognisable, smeared by mudslinging. The slogan of ‘tabdeeli’
does not stand for change of government. It means moving out of
your submerged homes to higher, drier ground.
While relief packages are being distributed to the homeless

camping in inadequate shelters on the roads of flood-affected
areas of the country, they might like to remember in their plight
the declaration of assets made by their leaders in 2018.
The details of assets held here and abroad are now in the public
domain. To the diligent researcher, they make depressing
reading. To the flood victims, they are of little use. They are
beyond retrieval, beyond reach and beyond conscience. They are
no more than a high watermark of unpunished corruption.
Perhaps the most insidious turn in our political misfortunes is

the new role of Pied Piper assumed by the PTI leader Imran
Khan. His detractors prefer to call him Imran Niazi, as if a change
in name will diminish his growing popularity.
Like the late Mr Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the 1970s, Mr Khan has
decided to go directly to the masses. He promises them not ‘roti,
kapra aur makaan’, but a cloth-less, foodless and roofless ‘true
democracy’.
He has embarked on a whirlwind tour of the country, rousing his

audiences with fiery rhetoric. Each speech out-burns the other in
intensity. Each voracious jalsa searches for a new target, a fresh
victim. Each volley of ammunition uses a higher calibre when the
earlier broadside fails.
The latest attack by Mr Khan during his address at Faisalabad

was ill-advised (if indeed he was advised at all) and certainly ill-
timed. He seems to have forgotten that it was within the first few
months of his first government that an amendment was
approved to the Army Act of 1952, enabling an incumbent COAS
to receive extension of service until the age of 64 years.
Today, he is apprehensive that the new COAS may be chosen for

his loyalty to the crown rather than to the state.
Had Mr Khan been better advised, he might have waited until the
nation had commemorated its martyrs on Sept 6 with
appropriate dignity, rather than hurling at them a wreath woven
from calumny.
How long will this state of affairs continue? Indefinitely, one

suspects.
The IMF is unlikely to release any further tranches to us until we

can demonstrate that we can exercise self-control at every level
— fiscally, socially, politically, and above all morally.
Until then, prudence tempered with humility might not be a bad

medicine to swallow.
www.fsaijazuddin.pk
Read more
Comments (1)
500 characters
COMMENT MOD POLICY
Ghulam
Sep 08, 2022 07:50am
Good advice but nothing could be seen through this dense fog of
uncertainty generated by not only Imran Khan but someone else
too sir. Still sanity should prevail for the good of this fateful
country.
Reply Recommend 0
Our economic potential
dawn.com/news/1709036/our-economic-potential
September 8, 2022
“LORD, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.”
Shakespeare alludes to human potential which is always higher
than its present condition. Allama Iqbal elaborated on this idea
in his famous couplet that translates to ‘elevate yourself so high
that even God, before issuing every decree of destiny, should ask
you: Tell me, what is your intent?’ Iqbal wanted every person to
develop their ‘self’ to realise their individual and collective
potential. If only they could invest their time and energies in
elevating themselves through continuous struggle.
As a 75-year-old nation, we know how weak our economy is, but

are unsure about our economic future. We know that by devoting
our collective energies, time and available resources to
investment, our economy can be gradually strengthened. But we
were unable to overcome our weakness and it seems futile after
75 years to even talk about attaining our economic potential. Is
our economy afflicted by the madness of Shakespeare’s Ophelia?
No, of course not. Ophelia was suicidal, but our elite is not. Yet,
we are afflicted by our elites’ madness, driven as it is by high and
borrowed consumption that leads to low savings and investment.
While our elite, both political and apolitical, is not suicidal, it is
destructive for non-elites, ie, the economy at large.
In the year 1965, we attained our highest gross fixed capital

formation as a proportion of GDP at 21.5 per cent. Since then, it
has been on a declining trend. Some of our peer countries,
including our neighbours, had comparable ratios: China (20.6),
Egypt (15.8), Indonesia (6.7), India (17.1), Iran (31.3), Morocco
(10.6), Malaysia (18.4) and Sri Lanka (12.9). In 2021, almost 56
years after 1965, due mainly to our bad and destructive policies,
our GFCF-to-GDP ratio was only 12.8pc, compared to Bangladesh
(31.0), China (42.5), Egypt (12.0), Indonesia (30.8), India (28.3),
Iran (28.2), Morocco (27.1), Malaysia (19.3) and Sri Lanka (26.0).
There is no method to our policy madness.
Why had we seen rising levels of investment till 1965, which

became increasingly insufficient to sustain economic growth to
appropriate levels later? This simple question is actually
complex, but nevertheless demands answers. There is only one
broad macroeconomic cause of our declining trend of
investment, several microeconomic causes (encompassing legal
and institutional constraints) and only one overarching political
cause.
We are afflicted by our elites’ madness, driven as it is by high and borrowed
consumption.
Let us describe the first macroeconomic cause. This is the most
obvious. It is our policymakers’ inability to maintain
macroeconomic stability, which, in turn, depends on many
factors. The most important of these factors is the inability to
mobilise resources through taxation. Budget after budget has
failed to produce cogent taxation plans resulting in declining tax-
to-GDP ratios. From FY76 to FY20, our tax-to-GDP ratio varied
between only 9.1pc and 14.5pc. The failure to mobilise our rupee
resources, together with higher-than-available resource
consumption by the government resulted in increased domestic
and external borrowings. The domestic source consisted of
borrowings from the State Bank, commercial banks and other
non-bank sources like the National Saving Schemes. Reliance on
the central bank not only constrained savings development, but
also fuelled inflation and its expectations. This not only
stimulated the government’s domestic consumption, but also
promoted public and private imported consumption. Savings
were, thus, thwarted leading to a rise in both domestic and
external debt.
The original sin of the government eating the non-forbidden

apples with borrowed money, led to rising external account
deficits like the trade and current account deficits. The havoc
wreaked by the overvalued Pak rupee throughout most of our 75-
year history on our imports should be obvious. Our consumption
in FY22 was almost 100pc of GDP. Since GDP is a sum of
consumption, investment and net exports (ie, exports minus
imports), the impact of our investment-to-GDP ratio of 15.1pc is
fully offset by the negative gap between exports and imports in
national income accounts!
The microeconomic causes of investments comprise several legal
and institutional hurdles that were described in detail in a
special section of the State Bank’s annual report of FY19; they
make for a harrowing read, and are almost impossible to
summarise. This report states that investment policies read like
an ‘attraction document’. When investors want to invest, they
find that the laws governing investment are different from the
policy documents. For example, the investment policy of 2013
differs in scope, including various rights, requirements, dispute
settlement and expropriation, from what is legally available to
investors in the Foreign Private Investment Act, 1976, and the
Protection of Economic Reform Act, 1992. Hence the actual
investment environment not only falls short of the promises
given in the policy document, but ‘successful’ investors must
brave a myriad of operational hurdles. This is true for both
domestic and international investors.
In case of foreign direct investment, bilateral treaties form a

crucial agreement that establishes the terms and conditions of
investment. These treaties are also not in full conformity with
domestic laws and regulations. The result is that the dispute
settlement mechanism is weak and the risk of expropriation,
currency inconvertibility and political violence is highest in
Pakistan among Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and
Vietnam. A few high-profile cases of international investment
disputes in the London Court of International Arbitration have
made the environment in Pakistan less conducive for FDI.
This is just a glimpse of the various hurdles to investment, along

with policy uncertainty, described in detail in the report cited.
The overarching constraint to investment is the complex political
environment in our country, fluctuating as it does between
pseudo democracy and dictatorships. Pseudo democracies are
democracies known for being tainted by the establishment,
making it difficult to establish who is really in charge of the
government. In this respect, it can be argued that pseudo
democracies are inferior to dictatorships. In this political
scenario, priorities are unlikely to be favourable to investment,
growth and development. Nevertheless, any set-up can easily
bring conformity between domestic laws, investment policies
and bilateral treaties. Doing only this will go a long way in
increasing our investment and economic potential.
The writer is a former deputy governor of the State Bank of

Pakistan.
rriazuddin@gmail.com

Reform, relief, resilience
dawn.com/news/1709037/reform-relief-resilience
September 8, 2022
DISASTER relief is not a stand-alone operation. It cannot be

effective unless clearly designed and aligned with reforms and
reconstruction needed for resilience. Instead of rediscovering
and reinventing our system weaknesses anew after every
disaster, the country should have in place a compass or a
framework to guide our recovery and rebuilding efforts. This can
be developed now, based on real-life lessons from the 2022 floods
and tested and finalised during the next disaster, whenever it
visits us.
The most important lesson from the 2005 earthquake and the
2010 super floods is that the institutions and systems needed for
emergency and relief assistance are so weak — in some instances
non-existent — that relief operations consume and overwhelm
all higher tiers of governance. They drag along all civil and
military authorities at the federal and provincial levels who may
not understand each other’s mandates and duplicate
competencies. VIP visits and helicopter rides have become a
typical policy tool to accelerate emergency relief and show
concern and support.
In disaster situations, what is urgent often distracts policy

leaders from thinking about important, system-level
interventions. System reforms also have an urgency and are
critically important for both relief effectiveness and long-term
resilient development. Their absence locks disaster victims
further into vulnerability. This is an opportune time for Pakistan
to attend to reform and resilience needs while still undertaking
relief and humanitarian activities.
Pakistan has over the years developed an elaborate ecosystem of

national- and provincial-level institutions, while district-level
institutions await their turn. Pakistan’s disaster relief policy is
governed by a guiding principle — that it is the government’s
responsibility to extend support to all poor victims of a disaster.
Fiscal space has shrunk but successive governments have always
honoured this principle to the extent possible. This broad policy
commitment has, however, not been clearly articulated or
operationalised. Our response to disasters has therefore
remained ad hoc. There are four key institutional and policy
barriers that need to be addressed:
Our response to disasters has so far remained ad hoc.
First, while climate change is a federal subject, floods and several

other extreme events fall in the provincial sphere of
responsibilities. Institutional roles and responsibilities are
sometimes unclear between local, provincial and federal level
entities. The standards of eligibility of federal support have not
been fully defined by the government. The threshold points that
specify at what junction federal institutions would get involved
in a local or provincial disaster are not clear.
Second, there are no data sets or clearly designated institutions

for various types of climate disasters to bridge the emergency-
development continuum. All we have is household income data
maintained by the Benazir Income Support Programme. BISP
does not have any vulnerability maps nor has it collected data
from beneficiary households for disaster vulnerabilities —
understandably so because its mandate is limited to income
support to people living below the poverty line. Since BISP also
does not maintain any information on climate disasters faced by
its beneficiaries or on extreme events occurring in its areas of
operation, it can only act as a post office and disburse equal or
flat amounts without independent damage assessments and
verifications.
National and provincial disaster management authorities or

other departments do not provide any yardstick to determine the
level of support needed for each disaster category. Further, the
government has not created specialised institutions or
drawdown facilities, nor has it developed standard
implementation procedures across the provinces, nor reinforced
capacities to build stockpiles, nor developed SOPs for speedier
procurement for disaster without compromising on transparency
and competitiveness.
Third, there are no financing mechanisms in place for disaster

management. Contingency and emergency funds are not
embedded in budgets that could be accessed independent of
high-level decision-making forums. In fact, early attempts to
earmark a small percentage of budgets for national and
provincial disaster management authorities have been
discontinued. Instead of harvesting ongoing development
projects for cash disbursements, it is time Pakistan created
catastrophe funds and initiated risk transfer and insurance
systems by prioritising key policy objectives and identifying in
advance post-disaster spending priorities.
Fourth, and most critically, is the absence of a disaster-recovery

framework that serves as a building block for reconstruction and
resilience. Pakistan’s disaster preparedness journey started in
2005 when it committed to the Hyogo Framework for Action. It
coincided with that year’s tragic earthquake upcountry. The HFA
was a blueprint for Pakistan’s disaster-risk reduction efforts and
shaped the policy direction of our newly created institutions. But
Pakistan’s underlying disaster-risk drivers remained strong.
Sufficient institutional, legislative and policy frameworks did not
exist or were not sufficiently strong to integrate disaster-risk
reduction in policy planning.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) also had to

come to grips with the 18th Amendment and the National
Climate Change Policy in 2013 and a new humanitarian-
development architecture based on three agreements with the
Paris Agreement, SDGs, and the Sendia Framework for Disaster
Risk Reduction (SFDRR). The challenge now was to design and
operationalise instruments that supported and integrated these
three tracks. Investments in disaster-risk reduction became a
precursor to climate-resilient development.
The NDMA committed in SFDRR that Pakistan would embark on
a seven-year journey of yearly targets from 2016 to 2022. The
SFDRR target for 2022, for example, is to “increase the
availability of and access to multi-hazard early warning systems
and disaster-risk information and assessment to people”. It is an
ongoing target for 2030 and an extremely important entry point
for Pakistan to engage with the global community to support the
former’s reconstruction or reparation needs after floods. SFDRR
Priority 4 focuses on ‘build-back-better’ (BBB) in the post-disaster
recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction for the restoration of
physical infrastructure and societal systems, and to revise
livelihoods, the economy and environment.
The world has moved from BBB to what Pakistan needs most —
building back stronger, faster and inclusively. The 2022 floods
offer an opportunity for relief operations to serve as a building
block for reconstruction and resilience. Initiating the
development of a framework for recovery and reconstruction
can help generate data and build an economic case for loss and
damage, an agenda point of the next climate summit later this
year.
The writer is an expert on climate change and development.

Getting rich on YouTube
dawn.com/news/1708873/getting-rich-on-youtube
September 7, 2022
EVERYONE is into it. Before leaving, your dadi’s friend grabs you
by the arm and whispers “Beta aap bhi meri subscriber banein
na” she says as she adjusts her glasses, asking you to subscribe to
her channel. Just like nearly everyone with access to Wi-Fi and a
phone, ‘Qamar Apa’ (let us call her that) is trying to transform
herself into a brand. When you do reluctantly subscribe (she
sends your dadi a text and a link to make sure) the next day you
see that she already has 4,000 subscribers. These people,
whoever they are, appear to tune in regularly to listen to Qamar
Apa giving out natural remedies for toothaches and muscle pain
from her well-appointed living room. She intersperses her
‘medical’ advice with moralisations on everything — from dances
at weddings to the proper manner of greeting elders. It is not a
compelling watch, but obviously, 4,000 (and growing) subscribers
appear to think differently.
Qamar Apa does not have any training in naturopathic medicine,

she has not done even a rudimentary course in natural remedies.
Her education at a Catholic school has given her fluency in
English, which she likely uses to Google the remedies, adding a
bit of lore here and there to make them seem her own. On
YouTube, things are quite different. If you read the comments
below her videos, her subscribers appear to believe that she is an
expert naturopath, her stories delivered in the sort of perfect
Urdu you never seem to hear anymore, along with her silver hair
lending her gravitas. So everyone, herself included, believes that
she is one.
Qamar Apa’s story reveals the trajectory of many social media

influencers in Pakistan. Before it can be discussed, however, it is
important for everyone to know that YouTube and TikTok pay
their content creators. The rates are based on the number of
views, the number of ad buys and the number of clicks on the
advertisements run during the video. The average YouTuber
(according to Intuit) ends up making somewhere around 0.18
cents per view. Anyone with 4,000 public watch hours in a year
and over 1,000 subscribers can apply to monetise their YouTube
account and start earning. A top influencer can make $5 per
1,000 views so if the video is seen by a million people, the income
is $5,000! According to e-marketers, spending on social media
advertising is going to increase by nearly 20 per cent by the end
of this year. Qamar Apa, now in her early 80s, is going to be a
part of this rapidly growing sector.
TikTok also pays but much less. Most payments are along the
lines of $40-$50 per million views. Given the nature of the
platform however it is far easier to get 1m views for a one-
minute clip than it is on YouTube. Content created for YouTube
can be sliced into shorter segments for TikTok, making it
unnecessary for content creators to create separate material for
each platform. Creators know that having a multi-platform
presence ensures that if one or another of the platforms blocks
them or suspends their account (happens mostly on TikTok) their
audience knows where to find them on the other platform. The
content they come up with can thus be used to create two lines of
revenue.
On YouTube, you are an expert if your subscribers believe that you are one.
Judging from comments on YouTube and TikTok most of the

public has no idea that the people who are indulging their
voyeurism by bringing viewers into their bedroom and kitchens
are getting paid to do so. The transformation of ordinary people
who may have begun a channel to have some fun and show off
their Eid clothes or their kids’ homework is very visible. After a
certain degree of success, there seems to be less or no talk of, for
instance, ‘going to work’. If the YouTube channel is run by a
couple, one of them or both quit their jobs so that they can create
content. When the money comes in, there are wild shopping
sprees and fancy vacations, as the creators imagine that they are
making money without working.
Most content creators that have commodified their lives for

consumption by voyeuristic audiences also reach what I call a
‘threshold moment’. At this point, the ordinariness of their lives,
or, more aptly, their ‘authenticity’ starts to level out. Events are
done, friends are seen, there have been outings — all for their
potential to be transformed into content. The once authentic
person becomes the YouTube cash-addicted person, desperate to
maintain subscribers, provide viral content, allowing people
further and further into their intimate universe. The worst
tragedy of it all is that save for some extremely top-of-the-line
creators, most YouTubers are expendable. When they get to their
threshold point, they start to appear inauthentic and boring, and
viewers just take their viewing elsewhere.
These are things potential content creators must consider before

they get into the business. There is a tackiness to the sudden
largesse of money and fame that can come from online content
creation — one that facepalms those working hard in medicine
or finance or any other profession as unlucky idiots who are not
as talented or interesting or charismatic and hence not
financially viable on social media platforms.
There is no doubt that this universe of vlogs and TikToks is only

going to expand in the future. One advantage of it is that creators
everywhere are paid in dollars, meaning that creators in
Pakistan can really see dollars flow in if they have huge
followings and can command significant advertising revenue.
They don’t need visas, they don’t need to leave their families
(although that would make great content); all they need to do is
produce content, show off their shopping hauls, their
naturopathic remedies. On YouTube, you are an expert if your
subscribers believe that you are one. This ease of attaining status
is like the golden apple, beckoning everyone into giving
themselves up for public consumption.

philosophy.

Another dubious death
dawn.com/news/1708868/another-dubious-death
September 7, 2022
THE second controversial death of a Pakistani prisoner in India-

held Kashmir in a short span of time is a matter of grave concern.
The Foreign Office summoned India’s charge d’affaires on
Monday to communicate its displeasure over the reported death
of Tabarak Hussain who, the FO said, was “mercilessly shot” by
Indian forces. Tabarak was a mentally challenged person and is
said to have inadvertently crossed the LoC in 2016. While all
extrajudicial killings must be condemned, the murder of an
individual with special needs by Indian forces is particularly
reprehensible. Late last month, reports had emerged that
Mohammad Ali Hussain, another Pakistani incarcerated in IHK,
was murdered in a phony encounter.
It must be clearly stated: Pakistani prisoners in the disputed

region as well as in Indian jails must be treated with dignity and
respect, and their fundamental rights safeguarded. Incidents of
this sort, where prisoners are tortured or killed in dubious
circumstances, cannot be tolerated. The Indian side claims that
Tabarak Hussain died of cardiac arrest, but the FO has
questioned this explanation. The Indian authorities need to
transparently probe both controversial deaths; those involved
must be punished, and the men’s families compensated. But
perhaps that is wishful thinking as India maintains a reign of
terror in IHK; this was also pointed out in a recent Amnesty
International report. The document says that New Delhi has
launched a “vicious crackdown” on civil society as well as the
media in the disputed region, and the clampdown has intensified
since the events of Aug 5, 2019. Amnesty adds that arbitrary
arrests and illegal imprisonment are commonplace in the
occupied territory. It appears that the deaths of the Pakistani
prisoners are linked to this brutal approach. However, whether it
is the use of oppressive tactics against defenceless Kashmiris, or
the cruel treatment meted out to Pakistani prisoners, universal
values demand that India curb such malicious behaviour on its
part. Otherwise, it should simply drop all pretences and stop
calling itself the ‘world’s biggest democracy’.
Opinion
Deregulating oil - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1708869/deregulating-oil
September 7, 2022
THE government is seriously thinking of deregulating the pump

prices of petrol and diesel in line with a previous cabinet
decision. Simply put, it means that for the consumer, the cost of
petrol and diesel will vary from city to city, pump to pump and
brand to brand. Consumers residing closer to the port and
refineries will be at an advantage and pay less than those living
elsewhere, depending on the cost of transportation to the points
of sale. This is in sharp contrast to the existing mechanism where
Ogra determines the rates fortnightly, using the average price
provided by Platts plus PSO’s premium. The cost build-up for the
oil marketing companies — their margins, inland freight
equalisation, dealer commission, taxes and levies, and other costs
— are then added to this average, and inland freight equalisation
is used by the government to provide oil at a uniform price from
Karachi to Skardu. Deregulation will end the government’s and
Ogra’s involvement in price setting, with market forces taking
over the function just as they do in the case of HOBC, a higher-
end product used as fuel for more sophisticated and expensive
cars. The product is sold by the marketing companies under
different brand names and at varying prices. Thus, Pakistanis
aren’t unfamiliar with the deregulated oil sector.
The total liberalisation of the pump-pricing mechanism is rightly

expected to boost market competition, forcing PSO to become
efficient in order to reduce its import costs, and refineries to
upgrade their technology so that they can improve the quality of
their products to Euro V standards from the present Euro II or
below. Initially, we may see a surge in pump prices but the
ensuing competition will eventually bring down the rates as seen
in other countries. It should also attract foreign investment to
this sector. The government will still continue to have some
space, albeit limited, to provide relief to the consumers by
slashing taxes. Yet, fast-track deregulation is not advisable. The
authorities must ensure that Ogra and the Competition
Commission possess the capacity to monitor and take action in
case of cartelisation by marketing companies to protect
consumers and ensure that the benefits are also passed on to far-
flung areas where different companies, especially PSO, virtually
have a monopoly. More importantly, a mechanism would have to
be adopted to ensure that imports are not stopped or oil
shortages created in the country when global prices crash.
Opinion
Agricultural recovery
dawn.com/news/1708870/agricultural-recovery
September 7, 2022
THE national response to the flood disaster is slowly starting to

coalesce, and it is hoped that the momentum will build up over
the coming days and weeks. The initial response may have
struggled to get off the ground, and many challenges still stand in
the way of reaching those still marooned in the worst-affected
areas — yet, there has also been gradual improvement. It is to the
credit of the many civilian volunteers on the ground, the NGOs
working round the clock, the armed forces’ rescue and relief
teams, and the people of this country — especially those who
have donated in this time of great economic difficulty — that
those who have suffered calamity now have helping hands to
give them much-needed support.
The relief and rehabilitation operation is just getting started,

however, and there is a monumental effort required still. It is
imperative that the federal and provincial governments take
charge, align the various organisations and individuals working
on the ground, and set a direction for how the rebuilding and
rehabilitation part of the relief efforts will proceed. There needs
to be a greater degree of order and organisation in the on-ground
relief activities to avoid overlap and wastage of precious
resources, especially as it seems right now that every
organisation involved is working independently of the other. The
respective governments also need to chart a strategy for the
quickest and surest way to get farmers back on their feet.
It appears from present assessments that the most pressing need

farmers will feel is compensation for the loss of seeds for future
crops, fertiliser and replacements for lost livestock. Another
equally important area of concern is the loss of tools and
machinery that aid agricultural activities like tilling, sowing and
irrigation. Once the immediate needs of those displaced are
taken care of — food, shelter, clean water and adequate health
facilities — the governments must start pooling the remaining
funds for the purpose of equipping farmers to bounce back from
their losses. Seed, fertiliser and livestock might need to be
imported, so foreign monetary aid should ideally be set aside for
this purpose to avoid putting pressure on the government’s
already weak current account position. As far as the repair and
replacement of agricultural implements are concerned, local
governments can be activated to provide targeted support to
farmers in this area. It is critical that the respective governments
take this particular aspect of the relief effort very seriously:
arranging for temporary housing and food for a few days or
months may provide a safety net to the affected people, but it
won’t help them recover what they have lost. It is critical both for
them and for the broader economy that the agricultural districts
are nursed back to productivity in the shortest possible time. The
nation cannot afford to leave its most vulnerable behind.
Opinion
Early education - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1708872/early-education
September 7, 2022
FOR all the talk of higher education institutes being reservoirs of

research, in Pakistan at least, these institutes are severely
criticised for both the production and reproduction of fake
knowledge. There has been an emphatic call for genuine and
real-world research in Pakistani academia because it is realised
that in the age of the knowledge economy it boosts a country’s
socioeconomic well-being, besides contributing to the
development of healthy social attitudes.
There is no doubt that institutes of higher learning need to

produce credible knowledge that prompts innovation and
encourages minds to thrive. This knowledge enables individuals
to ask questions and inspires critical, out-of-the-box thinking.
Higher education institutes in Pakistan, however, lack these
characteristics, and hence do not meet 21st-century challenges
regarding innovation and new knowledge.
In fact, the response to these challenges so far smacks of poor

awareness about the education ecosystem that comprises
integration and interdependence in all levels and components of
education. This may include, for example, the interplay between
basic and higher education learning design, instruction and
assessment. Such lack of awareness limits the scope of solutions
and their effectiveness.
Institutes of higher learning need to encourage academic

contributions by giving scholarships, upholding ethical standards
and holding unscrupulous academicians accountable, as well as
putting more money into research grants. However, for all this,
the education policy needs to focus on early education, the
building block on which rests the foundation of a strong higher
education system with the capacity to absorb all those qualified
to meet the challenges of research work and knowledge
production.
Teaching research skills must begin at the school level.
Giving scholarships for higher studies alone may not lead to

knowledge production and, as is evident, has not always added
value to these institutes’ intellectual capital. The perception and
experience of ‘scholarship’, for example, has been degraded and
is now associated with merely attaining a degree. It does not
reflect the thirst for knowledge that is required to understand
real-world problems through the formation of well-thought-out,
rational and diverse opinions. Generating ‘knowledge’ as a
means of boosting academic standing has, sadly, led to the theft
of knowledge and fake research studies, affecting all levels of
scholarship — discovery, integration, application and service.
The set criteria of selection for scholarships, for example, stems

from exam grades. This is by no means productive as exams are
merely a measure of what we can call the ‘paper-pencil’
capability of learners. We also tend to ignore examination
malpractices such as cheating. Grades, even if achieved on
grounds of merit, may not reflect a learner’s intellectual
standing, questioning capabilities, or critical and innovative
thinking.
The solution lies in reorienting the primary and secondary

education system so that there is a cascading effect on the quality
of higher education institutes. At the primary and secondary
levels, asking questions and analysing content must be
encouraged among students so that the fear of being wrong is
removed. Chastisement and corporal punishment have no place
in a class environment and they must be replaced with
appreciation for asking questions. The curriculum needs to focus
on life as it is, and changes in pedagogical methods must reflect
that, for instance by giving precedence to project work rather
than just learning from given texts. Simultaneously, memory-
based exams need to be replaced with stimulating and creative
forms of assessment which actually help build intellectual
capital.
Our policymakers, curriculum planners and educational leaders

should refocus their energies on questioning skills and coherent
thinking among these young minds to help them prepare for a
higher education system which puts premium on scientific
thinking and strong research skills.
With such measures at the school level, even if students are

unable to enrol at higher education institutes later, they would at
least have developed, by Grade 10 or 12, more rational and
critical thinking skills which would overcome irrational or
superstitious attitudes that seem to prevail at the moment.
Blindly following and not questioning are attitudes that reflect
poorly on human dignity.
In sum, incorporating critical and coherent thinking even at the

basic levels of education to prepare young students for the
rigours of intellectual demand at universities is the need of the
hour. Better quality of education at the primary and secondary
levels is more likely to ingrain analytical thinking that can
eventually develop into true scholarship thus equipping students
with the intellectual capital needed to find solutions in an
increasingly challenging global environment.
The writer is an educationist.

Selecting the army chief
dawn.com/news/1708874/selecting-the-army-chief
September 7, 2022
PREDICTABLY, Imran Khan’s latest remarks on the issue of the

appointment of the new army chief have provoked an intense
reaction from both the political and military leadership. His
comments that the ruling parties were “afraid that if a strong and
patriotic army chief is appointed then he would ask them about
the looted wealth”, is seen as an attempt to “discredit and
undermine” the senior leadership of the Pakistan Army.
It is indeed a reckless and irresponsible statement from the

former prime minister, bringing the confrontation with his
erstwhile patrons to a head. Tensions between the two had been
building since the fall of the PTI government in April but the
cleavage now seems unbridgeable, with both sides taking the
gloves off.
Although Imran Khan’s latest attack seemed directed mainly
against the federal government it went wide off the mark. He has
not only accused the PDM leadership of trying to bring in an
army chief of its own choice but has also questioned the
patriotism of the chief who would be appointed. Such a
differentiation would make any future army leadership
controversial.
It is not surprising that Khan’s comments have drawn a strong

reaction from the military high command. It is being seen as an
attempt to ‘politicise’ and ‘scandalise’ the entire process of
selection of the army chief. The statement was issued at a time
when the appointment of a new chief in November is
approaching.
Although Imran Khan’s attack seemed directed mainly against the government
it was wide off the mark.
The former prime minister is playing a dangerous game that

could have huge political consequences for his party. Such
pressure tactics cannot win him back the support of the security
establishment that he is so desperately seeking. His attempt to
divide the military rank and file could also derail the entire
democratic political process in the country.
Khan’s tenor is becoming increasingly aggressive even as his

popularity rises. There is also a sense of frustration. His
desperation seems to have intensified with his failure to push for
early elections. The arrest of Shahbaz Gill, his chief of staff, on
sedition charges, and the crackdown on the PTI’s social media
activists have increased his sense of insecurity. He often warns
against being pushed to the wall. The ban on the live telecast of
his rallies and speeches appeared to reinforce his apprehension
of the noose being tightened around him.
His anti-establishment stance is also driven by the fear of a move
to disqualify him from politics. He is now facing trial on a
number of charges, ranging from contempt of court to terrorism
and receiving unauthorised funding for his party. It may not be
possible to oust a popular leader from politics but Imran Khan’s
own hubris and recklessness could thwart his hopes of returning
to power soon.
While rejecting parliament, Imran Khan is now in open

confrontation with practically every state institution. His latest
remarks regarding the army chief’s appointment may also create
a wedge in his own party. Many senior party members find it
extremely hard to defend his comments. Their public
explanation sounds unconvincing.
The question of who would appoint the new army chief in

November has been driving Pakistan’s current political crisis. It
was believed to be one of the reasons why Imran Khan’s
government was toppled. It was said that the former prime
minister was planning to pick a ‘favourite’ for the powerful post
and establish army-backed authoritarian rule.
Ironically, Imran Khan’s comments echo the same concerns

about his rivals appointing a chief of their choice. What political
parties fail to learn are some basic lessons from our history. It
doesn’t matter who appoints whom — ultimately an army chief
will only serve his institution. It certainly would not have
mattered if Imran Khan were allowed to appoint the army chief.
The apprehensions were baseless.
Unfortunately, there is a tendency among our civilian leaders to

look for someone who they believe would be loyal to them. Often,
they would prefer a dark horse over one perceived as more
eligible. But when it comes to the crunch it’s the institution that
acts. There are many such examples in our history.
Although without doubt one of the finest political minds in

Pakistan’s history, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto made the same mistake by
choosing Gen Zia over several senior generals thinking that he
would be loyal to him. The consequences are a part of history.
During his three terms as prime minister, Nawaz Sharif

appointed at least four chiefs, clashing with all. In 1999, his
government was ousted by Gen Musharraf who was his own
appointee. Gen Bajwa, whom Nawaz Sharif holds responsible for
his removal, was also appointed by him, superseding some other
senior officers.
Interestingly, he was given an extension for a second term by

Imran Khan who is seen as having the security establishment’s
support during his almost four years in power. It was for this
reason that the PTI’s rule was often described as ‘hybrid’. The
former prime minister has now turned his guns on the chief. The
credentials of the person whom Khan once described as
‘democratic’ are now being questioned by PTI supporters.
So, all the controversy over who appoints the army chief means
little. The perception of a ‘favourite’ is absolute nonsense. The
choice has to be from among the four or five most senior officers
who all are supposed to be capable of holding the top job. Of
course, there may be some who are more talented. Unfortunately,
it is the PTI supporters who are publicly naming their ‘favourite’
generals.
A structured transition of the military command strengthens the

institution and enhances its professionalism. This is a lesson all
political parties, whether or not in power, should learn. Decisions
taken on political grounds will have a negative effect both on the
institution and the democratic process. Instead of looking for a
favourite general and seeking the military’s support, it is far
more important for political parties to focus on strengthening the
democratic process. It is a lesson to be learnt from the past.

The death of hope - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1708871/the-death-of-hope
September 7, 2022
JUST a couple of days after Mikhail Gorbachev was laid to rest, a

Moscow court took away the newspaper Novaya Gazeta’s licence
to publish. It seemed as if the last vestiges of Gorbachev’s legacy
were being buried alongside his mortal remains.
Novaya Gazeta’s editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, who shared last

year’s Nobel Peace Prize with Filipina journalist Maria Ressa,
was prominent among the thousands of mourners who attended
Gorbachev’s funeral last Saturday. The independent newspaper
was founded in 1993, partly with proceeds from Gorbachev’s
Nobel Prize, and had ever since remained a voluble source of
dissent in the Russia that emerged from the dissolution of the
Soviet Union 30 years ago.
It’s distressingly common for that collapse to be blamed mainly
on Gorbachev, the last leader of the USSR. In the aftermath,
Gorbachev grudgingly acknowledged that the criticism wasn’t
entirely unfair. But that was never his intent. He was determined
to transform the behemoth while preserving in a different form
both its socialistic impulses and its multicultural essence.
It wasn’t initially obvious that the project was doomed. The

Soviet Union had plenty of resources, both natural and human,
that could have been deployed to overcome the stasis of the
Brezhnev-era stagnation through much of the 1970s. But the path
to achieving that goal was not surprisingly, never clear.
Gorbachev’s Soviet dream remained unfulfilled.
Gorbachev wasn’t initially singled out as a reformist when he

assumed power in 1985. It was obvious that he, at 54, was
considerably younger than his three geriatric predecessors. It
took a year for what he had in mind to become a little more
clear. And it was momentous.
Glasnostwas the relatively easy part. Perestroikainevitably

proved much trickier. The first involved lifting the curbs on free
expression that had survived the Stalin era and, as Gorbachev
put it, filling in the blank pages of Soviet history. He did not need
to point out that such pages were plentiful.
The second related to transforming a polity and an economy that

stopped well short of meeting people’s needs. Gorbachev had
been in charge of agriculture during his journey to the helm. He
knew all too well, including during his stint as the party chief in
his native Stavropol, that much needed to change. He also
realised it wouldn’t be easy.
It proved even harder than he had probably envisaged, not least
because of his own reforms. Enabling the right to free speech,
unknown in the Soviet Union since the 1920s, meant that his
accomplishments would be subjected to unprecedented scrutiny
and the doubts about his agenda would be publicly aired.
Gorbachev wasn’t too worried. The initial domestic reaction to

his reformism was largely positive. Hardly any Soviet leader
since Vladimir Lenin had frivolously mingled with ordinary
citizens. In due course, however, he became one of the most
hated leaders — and, thanks to him, the hatred did not need to be
concealed.
That in itself was a triumph. It also spelled the end of the USSR.
The end came rather suddenly. The fatuous coup attempt in

August 1991 ought not to have come as a surprise, but its rapid
failure owes as much to the freedom of expression that
Gorbachev had succeeded in instituting as it does to Boris
Yeltsin’s commendable posturing.
Gorbachev survived the coup, but returned to Moscow a

diminished leader. The party he led had sought to topple him and
return to the stagnant alternative, but the vast majority of
Russians resented and resisted the retrograde effort. This was
due, in large part, to what Gorbachev had achieved in the
previous six years. Dissent no longer seemed like a straight path
to prison.
Russians took to the streets en masse to resist the attempted

coup. And, crucially, soldiers refused orders to shoot fellow
citizens. But Gorbachev’s project to retain what remained of the
USSR after the Baltic republics had exited with a union treaty
encompassing a looser Soviet federation was thwarted by the
elected presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, who
surreptitiously signed an agreement that effectively dissolved the
Soviet Union.
Gorbachev had no choice but to accept the fait accompli, and

formally resigned his presidential post on Christmas Day in 1991.
What followed, for Russia in particular under Yeltsin, was a
travesty. But it’s absurd to blame Gorbachev for the neoliberal
‘shock therapy’ and its consequences. That wasn’t his chosen
path.
Putin’s Russia suggests the appropriate lessons have not been

learned from the frequently uplifting Gorbachev era. At his
crowded funeral, a photographer commented: “It’s been six
months since so many decent people have together been in one
place.” Among them was the veteran liberal politician Grigory
Yavlinsky, who noted: “These people came to Gorbachev to say,
‘Thank you, Mr Gorbachev. You gave us a chance, but we lost this
chance’.”
Perhaps “You gave us a chance” would serve as a suitable epitaph

for a leader who tried, but failed, to save the Soviet Union.

No one like her - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1708701/no-one-like-her
September 6, 2022
FOR an understanding of Serena Williams’ tennis legacy — her

impact on the sport — one only needed to hear what Ajla
Tomljanovic said immediately after defeating the American great
in the final match of her transcendent career. Her first words
were that she was sorry. Serena’s third-round loss on Friday
ended hopes of a fairy-tale finish to her glittering career with the
US Open title. That would have been Grand Slam title number 24
for the 40-year-old, enabling her to go level with Margaret Court’s
long-standing record. But, 13 of Ms Court’s Grand Slam titles
came before the Open era, when professionals could not play in
majors. Serena’s 23 are the most in the Open era and unlike Ms
Court, she was a trailblazer and a champion for women’s rights.
She stood out not only for her on-court successes but also for her
position against racism, sexism and gender inequality in tennis.
She has dominated the women’s game ever since she won her
maiden Grand Slam at the US Open back in 1999. Serena was so
good that for the last few years, she had been playing against
players who were inspired by her to pick up the racquet.
At the US Open, she was looking for a final hurrah. She had won
her last Grand Slam title at the 2017 Australian Open while eight
weeks pregnant. After the birth of her daughter in an emergency
C-section, she defied expectations and returned to the court,
making it to four Grand Slam finals only to lose all. Having won
just once all year, her dominance seemed to be coming to an end
as she announced last month that she was “evolving away from
tennis”. Serena was targeting tennis immortality at Flushing
Meadows and even though bookmakers had given her no chance,
a second-round win over world number two Anett Kontaveit
raised hopes of an improbable title triumph. It wasn’t to be and
although Serena falls one short of Margaret Court’s historic
mark, there won’t be anyone like her again.
Opinion
Militancy fears - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1708702/militancy-fears
September 6, 2022
AS uncertainty surrounds the fate of the government’s ceasefire

with the banned TTP, there is growing disquiet regarding the
resurgence of militancy in KP, particularly in the province’s tribal
districts that were worst affected by terrorist violence. As
reported in this paper on Monday, according to sources the peace
deal with the TTP is effectively “on hold”, as there has been no
activity on this front since a Pakistani tribal delegation visited
Afghanistan for peacemaking purposes in late July. A mission
consisting of senior Pakistani clerics had also visited Kabul a few
days before the tribal representatives for similar purposes. While
the ceasefire has largely held, there have been sporadic attacks
on security personnel, with the terrorist group claiming it was
acting in ‘self-defence’. Coupled with this vagueness about the
ceasefire are growing concerns amongst the people of KP’s tribal
districts regarding the return of militancy in their areas. A large
rally was held in Khyber on Sunday, with marchers calling upon
the state to take action against terrorism, targeted killings and
extortion in the area. Similar demonstrations against the
perceived rising militant threat were held in Swat last month.
It is difficult to say whether the TTP or other militants have been

given the green signal to return to their old stomping grounds, as
very little is known about the nature of the peace deal. This
paper has consistently argued that the TTP are both
unpredictable and unreliable, and that no peace deal should be
finalised with the group unless they agree to disarm and to live
by the law of the land. Moreover, the killers involved in horrific
acts of terrorism — such as the APS massacre in Peshawar —
cannot simply be forgiven with a stroke of the pen. The state,
therefore, should make clear the terms of engagement with the
banned group. As for the people’s concerns, these are genuine
and the state must address them. Citizens of erstwhile Fata have
witnessed death, destruction and displacement from close
quarters due to the militants’ rampage, and subsequent military
operations to cleanse the area of the terrorists’ presence. Clearly,
their anxieties about a return to the bad old days are very real.
The state needs to assure the people in unambiguous terms that
it stands by them, and will not let militants destroy their lives
again, while terrorists and criminals involved in extortion need
to be apprehended and punished.
Opinion
Chief concern - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1708703/chief-concern
September 6, 2022
WITH characteristic lack of tact, former prime minister Imran

Khan has pushed the looming appointment of the next army
chief to front and centre of the national political discourse.
In a Sunday speech to a large crowd in Faisalabad, the former

prime minister alleged that PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and
PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari were holding off on announcing
elections just so they could appoint an army chief “of their own
choice” — a chief, Mr Khan claimed, who is likely to go easy on
them over their alleged corruption.
Since Mr Khan holds considerable political sway at the moment,

his remarks are expected to invite feverish scrutiny of the new
army chief’s appointment as the incumbent’s retirement draws
nearer.
The accusation is a potent one, as it is, like most effective

propaganda, based on a half-truth: past prime ministers have
indeed sought something more than just seniority or merit
among the candidates vying for this incredibly powerful post.
However, those ‘considerations’ have rarely yielded the desired
results.
The full truth is that an army chief, once appointed, becomes his
own man as the immense power vested in their office begins to
grow on them. The institution of the military is also such that it
binds the army chief in many ways. Therefore, it is little surprise
that no army chief has ever delivered on the many hopes and
expectations pinned on them by their civilian appointers.
Mr Khan once gave Gen Bajwa an extension, likely hoping they
would continue on the same page. It was not to be. Mr Sharif, on
the other hand, has proved a veteran in making appointments
that come back to haunt him.
Mr Khan’s remarks are provocative because they go to the heart

of the military’s entanglement with politics. The outrage of his
opponents makes this even clearer.
Read: Who will be the next army chief?
Instead of addressing the core issue and promising transparency,

both the PPP and the PML-N have seized on the opportunity to
paint Mr Khan as a ‘traitor’ and reassert themselves as lord
protectors of the army’s good name.
Separately, the ISPR has roundly denounced the statement as

“defamatory” and “scandalising”.
The public pressure will nonetheless continue to build as the

army chief’s retirement draws near.Control over the next
appointment is widely considered one of the reasons why Mr
Khan was prematurely ousted from the Prime Minister’s Office.
The PDM had alleged in the past that Mr Khan had planned to
perpetuate his rule with the help of a “friendly” chief, and that
they could not allow it to happen. Many are now waiting to see
who gets handed the baton of command and will demand to
know why.
Having forcibly been denied the privilege, Mr Khan can be

expected to rage from the sidelines till the end. One cannot envy
the man who takes power in such circumstances.

Read more
Comments (12)
500 characters
COMMENT MOD POLICY
Sab Se Pehle Pakistan

Sep 06, 2022 10:41am
IK said nothing wrong. He only pointed out the hidden agenda of

the current so called PDM government which has been selected
and imposed by the neutrals on us. The nation stands with IK. If
anyone has any doubt then hold free and fair elections and see
who forms a majority government in our country.
Reply Recommend 0
shan
Sep 06, 2022 10:43am
Pakistan army has no role in politics then why politicians try to

drag them in the politics?
Reply Recommend 0
Kris
Sep 06, 2022 10:44am
Bajwa should stay for six more months and see this crisis
through.
Reply Recommend 0
Sab Se Pehle Pakistan

Sep 06, 2022 10:48am
@shan, : That is the joke of the century. Really needed to laugh

this morning. Thank you my friend.
Reply Recommend 0
T-man
Sep 06, 2022 10:54am
@shan, ask IK
Reply Recommend 0
Mahnaz Qaiser
Sep 06, 2022 10:59am
Only Dawn has the courage to call a spade a spade.
Reply Recommend 0
Mahnaz Qaiser
Sep 06, 2022 11:01am
@shan, Politicians drag them into politics??Please come out of

the parallel universe that you live in.
Reply Recommend 0
Ali Rehan
Sep 06, 2022 11:03am
@shan, nice joke
Reply Recommend 0
Nasir Jan
Sep 06, 2022 11:03am
@shan, they have a huge role in politics - who do you think

crated Imran khan and bought him to power
Reply Recommend 0
Qasim
Sep 06, 2022 11:07am
At last, an impartial view from dawn.

Reply Recommend 0
nk
Sep 06, 2022 11:13am
I agree with Prime Minister Imran Khan 100%!!!
Reply Recommend 0
Salman
Sep 06, 2022 11:26am
@Nasir Jan, and also created nawaz and IJI…remember that?
Reply Recommend 0
Journalism’s last stand
dawn.com/news/1708708/journalisms-last-stand
September 6, 2022
IN the changed times we face, there is a new government and a

new opposition. The establishment has turned neutral and the
world too is facing not a pandemic but a war in its backyard and
a global recession. Our battle with the pandemic is over but a
natural calamity has just begun.
But there is much that is old, too, for change and continuity go
hand in hand. And, in the time-honoured tradition of our land,
the attacks on the press, or rather the media, are not much
different from the recent past.
The faces have changed, but not the principle of keeping the
press under pressure. If it was Geo earlier which was taken off
air for its transgressions, this time around ARY disappeared for
much of August. Earlier, if it was Matiullah Jan or Asad Toor who
were kidnapped or attacked, this time around Imran Riaz was
arrested and FIRs registered against those who work for ARY.
Journalists/anchors have lost their jobs while many of those who

suffered this fate some three years ago are now back on screen.
But what has not changed is the fact that the channels and those
who work for them can still be punished for airing views that
prove ‘unpalatable’.
The viewership or the readership is least important in this ruthless power
game.
However, more than unacceptable or problematic views and

stories, it is the system which needs an overhaul. For it does not
aim to fix but only punish — we don’t have defamation laws or a
regulatory framework to push through improvement in
journalism standards. Instead, the means are more coercive and
the objective is to punish as a means to control.
FIRs are registered, mysterious attacks take place, the

distribution of a paper or a channel is disrupted in a way where
the fingerprints, even though they are known to everyone, are
also not visible.
Similarly, in a world where ‘ratings’ are all important, and yet so

opaque, it is never clear if an anchor was let go for lack of
eyeballs or was it just an excuse to ease the pressure, which is
felt and witnessed by all but countered by none. This time
around also, there is a rumour that the price one organisation
had to pay for its return to favour was to bid farewell to someone
within.
Read: ARY News ‘parts ways’ with journalist Arshad Sharif

But this new wave has also led to an outcry over what is
happening along with a gentle message for those who are now at
the receiving end to remember their own behaviour when others
were being targeted. More than once, others have reminded
those feeling the brunt this time that they were not too
concerned earlier when others, of a different ideological bent,
were under attack.
However, not everyone has been this generous. Some have been
as unforgiving as those who came before them, refusing to
recognise the pressure or the ones under attack as journalists.
When this happens, we are reminded that division in the ranks

just makes the attacks a little bit easier and the ones leading the
assaults just that bit more reckless. But then, the vulnerable
always face the problem of bearing this burden of not uniting
against the powerful. As if the problem is not the mighty but
those who are weak enough to get pummelled.
But the question that comes to mind again and again is whether
this constant pressure or threat of punishment has any link to
the deteriorating standards of journalism. The polarisation, the
reputation many organisations have of being linked with one
party or another, the tilt or slant given to stories or even the
choice of stories covered or not covered. All of this, after all, has
coincided with the growing pressure.
Read: Crisis in journalism
Partly, this constant battle of winning approval or surviving

punishment has forced the industry into survival mode, a
survival which is based on ‘winning’ approval of the political
players and stakeholders. There is no safety in good journalism;
there is safety only in picking a side and hoping it will protect
you.
It is not as if the regulatory system, visible and invisible, is set up

to encourage journalism. Neither is the financial system (which is
a story for another day).
The viewership or readership is least important in this ruthless

power game, despite the obsession with the ratings game.
And more than just standards are at stake here. Consider the
recent floods. Compared to the 2005 earthquake or the 2010
floods, the coverage did not appear organic. In the early days, the
issue was more or less ignored and then suddenly, every
organisation jumped headlong into heavy coverage, more or less
in the same week. As if everyone slumbering woke up at the
same time.
(Discussions, on the ground reports, appeals for funds, everyone

was at it, as they usually stumble upon the same stories and
similar news priorities as to who comes first in the pecking order
of the news, followed by their favourites whose corner they are
allowed to pick, provided the street is chosen for them by those
who matter most.)
That it had to be a humanitarian calamity before organisations

felt the floods merited any special coverage or reportage is more
a reflection of the journalism practised by us in these difficult
times. Reporting has been the first casualty. Because it brings
nothing but trouble, it is best avoided in favour of lengthy
discussions on politicians and their statements.
News channels have become the local version of C-Span, showing
one live press conference after another. And it takes some
external jolting to send boots on the ground, a decision which
earlier was routine for news organisations.
But this is not the only price extracted.
In some ways, this process has killed the proverbial goose. The
lopsided coverage and the absence of reporting, among other
factors, has led to considerable erosion of credibility. The
resulting vacuum has been filled by social media. The digital
revolution has been creeping up on us, but unlike the shift from
print to television, it is not being led by the traditional media
houses. And if and when they do jump on the bandwagon, they
may not have the social capital they enjoyed in the noughties.

As Bond saw Kennedy’s appeal
dawn.com/news/1708707/as-bond-saw-kennedys-appeal
September 6, 2022
JOHN Kennedy’s exhortation to not ask what one’s country could

do for the citizens but what they could do for the country
appealed to James Bond in a quaint way. His lines from the movie
You Only Live Twice struck a universal chord insofar as they
could be applied to a large corpus of politicians and lackeys of
power across South Asia. “The things I do for England,” Bond
says, with a faux patriotic tone that is betrayed by a wink behind
his quarry’s back.
It is always an experience to watch politicians claiming to have

sacrificed their lives for the country. India and Pakistan have a
surfeit of them. It would not be incorrect to say that India’s
much-applauded economic reforms became possible by bribing a
clutch of MPs, in the national interest no doubt, to vote for the
1991-1992 budget. Without that timely sacrifice of the heroes of
the moment, the reforms would be doomed. MLAs are bought
and sold in national service. The things they have to do for their
country would make Bond look like a shirker. Like the hoarders
of grain of yore they are often put in a plane en masse to an
unnamed destination where they await a transition from
government A to government B not without a reward for their
lucrative act of patriotism.
A Congress leader quit the party the other day, not the first in a
flurry of departures in recent years. His voice was larded with
thick emotion as he exuded a sense of betrayal by the high
command to a very concerned TV anchor. The long and short of
it was that the 73-year-old Ghulam Nabi Azad had sacrificed his
long life for the party only to be humiliated by the current
leadership. He specifically named Rahul Gandhi for his
departure.
Records show that Azad was indeed a party veteran, having

joined the Congress as a local Kashmiri leader from Doda in 1973.
During the 1975-1977 Emergency, he became a close associate of
Sanjay Gandhi, Mrs Gandhi’s younger son who before the advent
of Narendra Modi had brought Indian democracy to its knees.
After this patriotic link, Azad would sacrifice a bit of his life to
hold coveted offices both within the party and as minister in
various Congress governments. A sample of his difficult
challenges is revealed by Wikipedia.
A Congress leader quit the party the other day, not the first in a flurry of
departures in recent years.
Azad started his career working as the secretary for the Block
Congress Committee in Bhalessa in 1973. Two years later, he was
nominated as president of the Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh
Youth Congress. In 1980, which would be around Mrs Gandhi’s
post-Emergency innings, he became head of the All-India Youth
Congress.
Elected to the seventh Lok Sabha from Maharashtra’s Washim

constituency in 1980, Azad became deputy minister with Mrs
Gandhi, in charge of the law, justice and company affairs
ministry.
He was elected to the eighth Lok Sabha in 1985 when, after Mrs
Gandhi’s assassination, he became close to Rajiv Gandhi, the
elder brother of Sanjay, whose Emergency antics Rajiv and Sonia
Gandhi had kept a distance from. Azad joined Rajya Sabha from
Maharashtra in 1990. In the Narasimha Rao government, he held
the parliamentary affairs and civil aviation ministries, the latter
a greatly coveted post that trusted or critical allies are given.
I’ve met Ghulam Nabi Azad once when he was minister of civil
aviation. I needed his help to find a seat on a packed plane from
Bagdogra to Delhi after covering Narasimha Rao’s election rally
in Sikkim. He found me a seat from the quota for Congress
leaders. It was curious how under Azad’s watch as aviation
minister Indian airlines stopped serving liquor on domestic
flights. He seemed to be the convenient fall guy as a Muslim
minister in a move that had socio-corporate purposes.
Among his other ‘sacrifices’ for the party and country, he became
chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir in 2005 when he awarded
forestland to serve the needs of a Hindu pilgrimage, which set off
violent protests by Kashmiri Muslims. When he took back the
award, Hindu groups came out to protest.
During this violence perhaps some Gujarati visitors among
others fell victim. Azad called the state’s chief minister Narendra
Modi to express his regrets. Modi was in tears when Azad gave
his farewell speech in the Rajya Sabha as Congress MP and leader
of the opposition. That was his last contribution to the party and
the country. There are rumours of him wanting to serve the
country a bit more but that is beside the point.
Look at another gentleman, a senior minister in Congress

governments. He was a lawyer for a business captain who the
Gandhis saw as corrupt and with whose support Mr Modi
became the business community’s choice as prime minister.
Another leader to quit the party was a lawyer for another
businessman named by the young Gandhi in his speeches. The
leader joined a regional party in which the business captain
holds sway.
Going by the dominant definition of what working for the

country means, a bevy of intellectuals spending time in Indian
jails currently seem to have missed the benefits of enjoying Ian
Fleming’s essential humour. Teesta Setalvad, who has spent a
good part of her life organising legal support for victims of
Gujarat pogroms, was lucky to have been granted bail by the
highest court which had sent her there. Online news fact-checker
Muhammed Zubair got away with bail. He was truly very lucky.
Monday (Sept 5) marked five years since Gauri Lankesh was

assassinated by Hindutva gunmen at her home in Bengaluru. The
journalist-activist was among three other activists who were
killed in recent years by the same forces for educating the masses
to fight blind faith and superstition. They thought they were
working for the love of the country but apparently didn’t watch
James Bond movies enough.

Labour settlements
dawn.com/news/1708704/labour-settlements
September 6, 2022
THE collective bargaining agent union, popularly known as the

CBA, is a representative body of workers in an industrial and
commercial establishment. One of the most critical of labour
laws, ie the Industrial Relations Act(s) of the four provinces and
the federation, deal with the formation of unions and their
operation, referendum to elect the CBA and functions of the
various fora with participation of workers’ representatives
nominated by the CBA.
The CBA nominates its representatives in the workers’

management council, the management and canteen management
committees, workers’ participation fund and as shop stewards
and trustees for provident and gratuity funds etc. These
representatives exercise rights equal to those representing the
company management in these forums and take part in decision-
making.
However, the most significant among all of CBA’s roles is to

periodically negotiate the collective labour agreement with the
management. The primary objective of employing an industrial
relations manager (IRM), is to ensure maintenance of industrial
peace in the organisation. This may be achieved through
reaching an amicable settlement with the CBA, followed by its
implementation.
Settlement clauses should not leave any ambiguity for the

workers, who are the main beneficiaries. The IRM cannot afford
to play smart as the CBA can react by disrupting the peaceful
environment. Besides, the CBA may approach court for
interpreting the disputed clause, and the outcome may not go in
favour of the management.
The clauses should not leave any room for ambiguity.
In organisations where there are no CBAs, the management

unilaterally decides changes in the terms and conditions of
employment of the non-management staff. The latter do not have
the option of challenging these anywhere. On the contrary,
organisations with CBAs must periodically negotiate their charter
of demands for an increase in the existing terms of employment,
and reach a settlement.
If the offer of increase in salary and benefits given by

management is not acceptable to the CBA, it may go for
conciliation under the government’s labour department. In case
of failure, it has the option of going on strike on 14 days’ notice.
The process of collective bargaining has been comprehensively
prescribed in the industrial relations laws of the provinces and
federation. Negotiations with the management on the CBA’s
charter of demands start on the expiry of the previous
settlement. Sometimes, managements also formally serve their
charter of demands on the CBA, but it is not the norm. Mostly,
managements take up their demands verbally during
negotiations and few clauses are inserted in the settlement
through consensus with the CBA.
Usually, it takes two to three months to reach a settlement but at

times it may take even more than a year especially if the CBA
goes on strike. The commencement date of the settlement is
agreed upon between the parties; the agreement may either take
retrospective effect, ie following the date on which the previous
settlement had expired or the date on which it has been signed.
Mostly, the starting date belongs to the retrospective category.
A settlement is binding for such period as agreed upon by the

parties but not more than two years. If no such period is agreed
upon, then for a period of one year from the date on which the
settlement was signed. All the provinces have restricted the
operational period to a maximum of two years. However, there is
no such limit in the federal act governing trans-provincial
organisations; they may reach a settlement of more than two
years.
Once a settlement is signed, it has the status of law, a court

judgement or an award by an arbitrator. The benefits under the
previous settlements remain in force until revoked through an
agreement between the parties. In some organisations,
managements allow the workers to get a fixed quantity of certain
products at highly discounted rates. If the grant of such facility
continues for several years, the management cannot withdraw it
unilaterally and may only do so through a settlement.
In some progressive organisations, managements provide a

booklet of the settlement to all employees. Such practice enables
front-line managers to decide minor issues of workers on the
shop floor, and they don’t have to seek guidance from the IRM.
The management negotiation team should be mature and possess

a cool temperament as CBA officials may suddenly become
aggressive during negotiations and use intemperate language.
Such behaviour is a usual tactic adopted by the CBA to put
pressure on the management team to concede to the CBA’s
demand.
Management team should listen to outbursts with patience and

start talking only after CBA officials are finished with what they
have to say. The management team should then strive to involve
the CBA in principled negotiations, which will produce a wise
and amicable settlement.
The writer is a consultant in human resources at the Aga Khan

University Hospital.

A triple whammy - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1708706/a-triple-whammy
September 6, 2022
FOR the first time in history, we are facing three huge crises
together — economic, political and ‘natural’, while terrorism is
up too. The poor had been suffering the first two for months
because of inflation, job loss and political paralysis. Now the
floods have pushed millions into ruin.
While it is called a natural crisis, it is mainly a human-made one,

with the culpability chain encompassing elites at global (causing
climate change but giving little aid to poor states to tackle it),
national (ignoring disaster mitigation, early warning and
response) and local (pushing the poor into the most flood-prone
areas) levels. But its cost is borne by millions of poor kids,
pregnant women, elderly and sick persons crowded under the
open sky or in flimsy tents, prone to hunger, disease, the
elements and insecurity as they wait for aid.
It will be weeks before many can even return to their villages as

the land drains and dries. It will take months, even years, to
recover from the loss of housing, animals, crops and cultivable
land. Many will go deeper into debt as aid may be tiny even for
immediate relief and even tinier for long-term recovery. Already
global and local pledges seem far below those for the 2005 quake
and 2010 floods while the damage is much more. We may be the
only state globally to have faced three huge ‘natural’ crises since
2000, besides terrorism and Covid-19 misery. Covid-19 had only
disrupted economic exchange for three to four months due to the
lockdown without damaging the economic base. This flood has
destroyed that too: crops, land, animals, bridges, etc. Thus, it will
have a deeper impact on the poor and the economy.
Floods will exacerbate the economic crisis that had shown initial
signs of abating with the IMF deal. Twin deficits, growth and
inflation will worsen, increasing misery for the poor. It is unwise
for the government and IMF to expect the poor to bear the same
IMF austerity now. Both must sign a new deal that lessens misery
for the poor while increasing taxes and reducing subsidies for
the rich and cutting defence outlays. But more deeply, highly
indebted, climate-change-prone states must no longer suffer IMF
terms. They now suffer more ‘natural’ crises costing billions due
to the climate change induced by the very states and
multilateral/private lenders linked to them. A new global deal
must be struck where rich states give debt relief annually
without IMF austerity subject to poor states using the fiscal space
to craft a sustainable and equitable economy.
Our ability to tackle the crises is stymied by nasty politics.
But our ability to tackle the economic and ‘natural’ crises is being
nixed by the futile political crisis PTI is stirring for early polls.
The economic crisis alone made early polls a risky diversion; the
rise of the ‘natural’ crisis even more so now. By trying to
undermine the IMF deal and holding jalsas despite floods, the PTI
is proving its lust for power supersedes national interests. But by
pursuing iffy mutiny, terrorism, sadiq/ameen and contempt
cases, the PDM is also stoking tensions. Disqualifying Imran Khan
via such cases will smack of political intrigue, as in Nawaz
Sharif’s case. The only strong case relates to the April 3
constitutional violation (but not via Article 6). Oddly, the PDM is
not pursuing it. Disqualification short of arrest may even up
Imran’s political power.
Thus, the PDM must tackle PTI politically even though it is on a

roll currently due to inflation and Imran’s pretence of being a
saviour fighting global and internal evil forces. Yet this roll may
not last till the polls next year if the PDM improves its
governance and politics. It must give relief to the people by
rejigging the IMF deal and ensuring a strong flood response.
Politically, it must avoid heavy-handed acts like filing iffy cases
and banning TV channels and Imran’s speeches, for these only
strengthen the former PM’s questionable image as a saviour
fighting evil forces. Oddly, all it has do is to give the previous
ruling party a wide leash for it to err — for example, via morbid
attacks on the army after the Balochistan helicopter crash, Gill’s
ARY interview, Imran’s unhinged speeches and PTI’s intrigue
against the IMF deal. These acts undercut the PTI’s standing but
then the PDM swings the sympathy pendulum back towards the
PTI via its heavy-handed acts.
Despite quitting the National Assembly, the May 25 long march,
retaking Punjab and endless rallies, the PTI has failed to get early
polls, causing it to panic more. Harsh realities are toning down
its rhetoric against the US and the institutions. This leaves the
PDM’s misrule as its main attack point. But that sheds light on its
own bigger misrule too which is why it uses ‘intrigues’ and
religion as its key campaign themes.
But the PDM too is a motley crowd and will have to exceed itself
hugely to deal ably with the three-pronged crisis.
The writer is a political economist with a PhD from the University

of California, Berkeley.
murtazaniaz@yahoo.com
Twitter: @NiazMurtaza2

Health catastrophe
dawn.com/news/1708490/health-catastrophe
September 4, 2022
THE tragedy is only just beginning to unfold. A people that did

not have very much to begin with are faced with seemingly
insurmountable challenges as the floodwaters continue to make
their way to the south of the country. Massive swathes of
Pakistan have become a watery grave for standing crops,
people’s homes and hundreds of thousands of cattle. The death
toll has crossed 1,200. One of the statistics with the most far-
reaching consequences is that nearly 900 health facilities have
been damaged, 180 of them completely destroyed according to
WHO. Not surprisingly, with stagnant water everywhere
preventing people from observing even a modicum of hygiene
practices, stomach ailments as well as skin infections have
become rampant. According to the Sindh government, in August
alone nearly 200,000 cases of acute watery diarrhoea and
dysentery had been reported among children in flood-affected
areas. Given it will take time to get the ruined health facilities up
and running again, this is a humanitarian disaster in the making.
The health infrastructure is already not up to par in many urban

centres of Pakistan, and rural areas in general have been
extremely underserved. Some parts of Sindh and Balochistan
have seen inadequate investment even in primary healthcare
facilities that are properly staffed and accessible to the local
population. The inequality in the distribution of healthcare
services comes to the fore most starkly when major road
accidents occur on intercity highways and many of the injured
die for want of timely medical attention. Meanwhile, income
disparities and lack of awareness — and in some cases, cultural
practices — have contributed to chronic medical issues among
sections of the population. Pakistan has one of the highest
prevalence of stunting in the world, with 38pc of children under
five years of age affected; in Sindh, the number is almost 50pc.
The country also has the second highest global burden of
hepatitis C, with 8m of the population infected. After a lull of 15
months, polio cases are also making a comeback with at least 17
having been reported until September. While Covid-19 did not
take as heavy a toll here as it did in some neighbouring countries,
thanks to a centralised government response and perhaps some
as yet unknown factors, the floods are spawning a certain, and
deadly, health crisis. Its dimensions will become known in the
weeks and months ahead as the numbers of affected overwhelms
available resources.
Opinion
Cut and burn - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1708489/cut-and-burn
September 4, 2022
THE Ministry of Defence’s public disowning of two veterans’

organisations led by retired officers of the armed forces is a
surprising escalation. The ministry on Friday accused the
Pakistan Ex-Servicemen Society and Veterans of Pakistan of
“masquerading” as representatives of retired servicemen and
even warned them of legal action over their alleged “deceptions”.
Is this punishment? An effort to cut loose voices considered too
sympathetic to narratives that go against its own? Both
organisations have been around for a while: the VOP (formerly
Pakistan Ex-Servicemen Association) was formed towards the
end of the Musharraf era, and the PESS more than a decade
earlier. They have been led by individuals who were previously
‘authorised’ by the military to speak to the media as defence
analysts. In the past, they acted as proxies when Nawaz Sharif
fell afoul of the establishment and needed to be cut to size.
The major irritant in their relationship with the state seems to be

their support for the PTI and its political narrative. When those
differences became public, it was a remarkable break from the
past: two organisations that had hitherto acted as handmaidens
of the deep state — eagerly using their platform to discredit the
country’s leadership — had seemingly found a new love for
democracy. The PESS, in particular, seems to have been in the
cross hairs for the outspokenness of one of its office-bearers,
retired Maj Adil Raja, who repeatedly criticised the army over Mr
Khan’s ouster. He fled the country after a brief ‘disappearance’ in
April. The VOP, on the other hand, had issued a press release in
April calling for early elections. It also bears noting that the army
had withdrawn pensions and benefits of some retired officers
after a group of veterans held a press conference demanding
early elections in June. These developments, when taken
together, are reflective of a level of polarisation not seen in the
country before, much of which can be attributed to the
prevailing animus in the political sphere.
Opinion
Tough path to follow
dawn.com/news/1708491/tough-path-to-follow
September 4, 2022
THE country report published by the IMF after the completion of

the seventh and eighth reviews of the Extended Fund Facility for
Pakistan clearly shows that the lender of last resort is keeping
Islamabad on a very tight leash: understandably, it no longer
trusts the leadership to stay the course. Prime Minister Shehbaz
Sharif’s coalition government has been forced to give a strong
commitment that it would immediately embark on a contingency
plan to impose additional taxes in case its revenue collection falls
short of the budgeted target in any given month in order to hold
down the consolidated fiscal deficit to 4.6pc and achieve a
primary budget surplus of 0.2pc of the size of GDP. The
unfettered flow of the remaining IMF bailout dollars over the
next 10 months to June 2023 will depend on the implementation
of several other programme targets including the 53pc increase
in gas prices, revival of GST on petroleum products and the
withdrawal of power and energy subsidies.
If anyone thought the revival of the loan package would ease

their problems, they were mistaken. The tough times will worsen
and we don’t even know how long this period will last. The
nation’s foreign financing requirements are estimated to
fluctuate between $31bn and $39bn during the next few years
and the world’s lack of confidence in our economy means that
Pakistan may continue to need Fund support to stay liquid in the
near to medium term. Perhaps the tight path defined by the IMF
for us is what we need to get our act together.
That said, it must be pointed out that the calamitous floods that
have affected 33m people, and devastated livelihoods, crops and
the communication infrastructure across the country in recent
weeks, will put additional pressure on the fiscal and external
accounts. The economic losses from the floods have been
estimated by Minister of State for Finance Aisha Ghaus Pasha to
be close to Rs2tr or 2pc of GDP. Analysts predict that the
emerging flood-related pressures will spike headline inflation,
which was recorded at a nearly 50-year high of 27.3pc in August,
on the back of potential food shortages because of supply chain
disruptions. GDP growth is projected to decelerate further to
around 2pc from the IMF estimate of 3.5pc because of large crop
and livestock losses and the slowdown in demand for industrial
goods. In short, it will be difficult for the government to stay on
the IMF programme’s narrow path. The question now is: will the
IMF consider the potential impact of the floods on the economy
and relax its conditions? That isn’t likely. But Islamabad may get
some additional financing from the Fund and other multilaterals
if it continues to follow the course set under the bailout package.
That is the only silver lining in the dark clouds hovering over us
at the moment.

Opinion
Fragile environment
dawn.com/news/1708492/fragile-environment
September 4, 2022
TORRENTIAL rains and the resultant floods have wreaked havoc

across the country. People and livestock have perished; millions
have been displaced. Thousands of families remain marooned,
with little possibility of an early rescue; many others are
preparing to move to places of relative safety. Rescue and relief
efforts by various government agencies, NGOs and welfare wings
of political parties are continuing.
Access itself has become a huge challenge as roads, highways and

other land transportation have been severely damaged. Images
of collapsing houses, hotels, bridges, culverts, embankments,
streets and hutments show the fury of the inundating waters. It is
a matter of concern that buildings and structures constructed
with cement, concrete and steel have also collapsed in large
numbers. The anarchy and crass corruption in our built
environment that is unable to withstand extreme weather events
stand fully exposed. Once the rescue and relief phase concludes,
the greater challenges of rehabilitation and redevelopment will
emerge. National and provincial task forces must be immediately
constituted and comprise technocrats from the relevant fields to
steer the process. Some urgent core tasks are outlined here.
Once the waters recede, a nationwide land survey will be

required to cover inundation patterns, topographical variations,
changes in ground levels, reasons for the flooding of roads and
highways, obstructions to water flows, the identification of illegal
embankments and spots where trees have been unlawfully
uprooted, the performance of existing waterways, etc. The study
should indicate the degree of vulnerability of settlements and
suggest mitigation options. Using digital tools, simulation and
modelling, inundation rates and drainage challenges can be
identified.
Provincial boards of revenue must be tasked to share land

ownership data with the task forces to enable the resettlement
process on safer ground. Laws and procedures should be in sync
if real estate schemes and other development that alters natural
and desired drainage paths are to be avoided. As climate patterns
change, it is becoming increasingly clear that more unpredictable
weather will be experienced. The governments must also notify
no-construction zones. Structures are often located along an
active river path as the harrowing footage of building collapses
in Swat has shown.
Access itself is a huge challenge.
Rain and flood victims are generally housed in schools, colleges,
etc. In many cases, such buildings have been poorly constructed
and hardly extend relief. Ahead of the monsoons, an official
district-wise assessment can ascertain the status of schools and
other public facilities for possible accommodation in the event of
disaster evacuation. Standards must be revised to ensure top
quality of design, construction and services. Mock exercises can
be carried out to assess the suitability of buildings for people
during emergencies. Thoughtful planning can ensure that
educational activities are not disrupted too much even though
the premises are being used by victims of disaster.
Other government buildings that can be easily accessed by

people in the low-lying areas must be identified and modified for
emergency use. Temporary shelters such as tents could be made
available through district-level distribution points. The present
disaster has proved that heavy monsoon rains can even cause
flooding in places at a distance from rivers and canals. The
choice of location for building complexes that could also be used
as emergency shelters must be made carefully. Secure sites,
easily accessible locations, solid construction, dependable
internal services, and installation of essential communication
systems are important factors.
The bulk of our buildings are haphazardly constructed, without

design or professional construction advice. If we wish to have
safe, resilient buildings then capacity building of service
providers is a prerequisite. Site selection and analysis,
orientation, accommodation needs and adjustments, matching
resources with the desired level of construction, engineering
advice on foundations and super-structures, and much else can
be incorporated through capacity-enhancement programmes.
The federal government intends to start a national internship
programme. New graduates in architecture and civil and
building engineering can work on these tasks under the
supervision of senior professionals.
Such tasks depend on the extent of local mobilisation, consistent

support from provincial and local governments and the
assistance of professional bodies such as the Institution of
Engineers Pakistan, the Institute of Architects, Pakistan and the
Pakistan Medical Association — bodies that can and would want
to play a vital role in the redevelopment process. The federal and
provincial governments must act fast to build on the support
available to enable the process of redevelopment.
The writer is an academic and researcher based in Karachi.

Climate reparations
dawn.com/news/1708493/climate-reparations
September 4, 2022
AS the scale of flood devastation becomes apparent, the sense of

climate injustice is rightfully mounting. Pakistan emits less than
one per cent of global greenhouse gases (GHG), but is the eighth
most vulnerable country to climate change-related disasters, a
vulnerability that has been horrifyingly laid bare over the past
few weeks. There is no doubt that the Global North should
compensate the Global South for the fact that high-emitting
activities in developed economies are fuelling catastrophic
climate change-related events — current floods included — in
less developed countries.
In a 2020 Lancet Planetary Health article, Jason Hickel quantifies

national responsibility for the climate crisis by analysing
national contributions to carbon emissions in excess of the
planetary boundary of 350 parts per million atmospheric CO2
concentration. He finds that in 2015 the US was responsible for
40pc of excess emissions, the EU 29pc. The most industrialised
nations collectively were responsible for 90pc of excess
emissions and the Global North for 92pc. Hickel concludes that
developed countries are more responsible for paying climate
damages than previously acknowledged; last week he tweeted:
“Pakistan is a climate creditor, and the government should issue
an official call for reparations for loss and damage.”
Unfortunately, the politics are more fraught than this simple

logic. Pakistan currently lacks a clear stance on reparations — or
indeed a climate diplomacy strategy. Our COP26 commitments
for emissions reductions were contingent on receiving climate
finance, likely in the form of debt forgiveness. After the floods,
we will no doubt continue to seek international support, but we
will have to make a choice: embrace the climate justice argument
and demand reparations or continue to opportunistically
negotiate debt relief?
Reparations require targeting the highest emitters. That includes

the US, with whom we are trying to repair ties, and historic allies
such as the UK. China is the second-highest emitter, and is on the
threshold of exceeding CO2 emissions beyond the planetary
boundary as per Hickel’s calculations. There’s also the awkward
matter that Gulf allies we turn to for bailouts draw their wealth
from fossil fuels. A strong stance on reparations would have
implications on foreign relations.
Pakistan will need a clean, green vision.
Pakistan will have to overlay climate diplomacy on its foreign
policy agenda. The fact that we lack an independent, coherent
foreign policy will perversely affect our ability to forge a
coherent ask of developed nations in the climate context.
Pakistan will also have to recognise that it cannot have it both

ways. We subscribe to the ‘catch up’ argument — the notion that
developing countries should be allowed their share of pollutants
and GHG emissions to build infrastructure and spur economic
growth, an argument strongly pushed by emerging economies
such as India and China. This reasoning envisions the West
curtailing emissions and bearing the financial costs of an
economic slowdown while developing countries continue to
emit, build and grow. But this argument weakens when you
speak the language of reparations.
Climate justice is based on the notion of not being punished for

someone else’s bad behaviour, but it does not sanction additional
bad behaviour. A Pakistan demanding reparations will also need
a clean, green vision which includes leapfrogging the high-
emitting phase of economic development into a more sustainable
future. That means no more poorly planned expressways, luxury
real estate development and illegal construction. Are we ready to
draw this social contract?
Climate reparations arguments quickly move on to questions of

governance and accountability: who will receive climate
damages and how will they be dispensed? It is true that this
year’s floods are not just the result of climate change, but also a
consequence of poor governance and wholly inadequate disaster
planning. But such argumentation is zero sum. We can ask for
reparations while simultaneously recognising the need for better
internal governance and disaster management. The
acknowledgement of internal failings can be accounted for
through a more expansive definition of reparations, which goes
beyond financial support to include technical assistance and
skills development needed to handle the climate challenge.
Pakistan can now either play the victim game, blaming climate
change, shifting the onus to the Global North, and passively
awaiting help. Or it can learn from the calamitous floods and
pivot its climate narrative — and along that, its planning, foreign
and security policies — to promote climate justice. We can ask for
reparations, but back the demand with commitments to holistic
climate mitigation and adaptation plans that ensure Pakistan’s
poorest, hardest-hit citizens never have to suffer again the way
they are now.
The writer is a political and integrity risk analyst.
Twitter: @humayusuf

Trust the state? - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1708494/trust-the-state
September 4, 2022
SHOULD citizens trust the Pakistani state with relief efforts and
donations in the aftermath of these devastating floods? This is a
common question, and one that was asked after the 2005
earthquake and the 2010 floods as well.
The fact that this question is being asked shows a trust deficit
between Pakistani citizens and public institutions — not just
those tasked with relief work, but the ‘government’ more
broadly. Among some segments, at least, donating to NGOs,
welfare organisations, individual relief workers, and political
parties seems to be preferable over donating to the government.
What is the basis of this distrust? The simple answer is any
actual, tangible experience with most government departments
is sufficient to leave a person deeply sceptical of public
authorities’ commitment towards social welfare. This is
particularly true for marginalised groups — such as households
of the urban and rural poor, and religious, gender and ethnic
minorities. Priced out of market-based solutions for basic
services, such groups have no option but to turn to the state and
face disappointment. Evidence from other contexts also suggests
that the increased likelihood of these groups experiencing
hardship during calamities and crises can further erode trust.
Another reason for distrust is ideology and politics. A common

example of this in Pakistan’s case is opposing party politicians
specifically warning citizens against an incumbent government,
accusing it of incompetence, corruption, or misuse of public
funds. For most of Pakistan’s history, the military establishment
has pioneered an ‘anti-politics’ worldview towards elected
officials, especially among urban middle-class groups. These
accusations may or may not always be grounded in reality, but
they carry an impact on citizen attitudes and levels of trust in
their own government.
The Pakistani state’s past performance in managing calamities of various sorts
is not abysmal, given existing capacity levels.
This pervasive lack of trust in the Pakistani state manifests itself

in various sectors. Recent work by Acemoglu, Robinson, Khwaja,
and Cheema lays out, baseline trust in the formal judicial system
is very low due to costs, perceptions of unfairness, and time-
related inefficiencies. In the fiscal domain, tax compliance is low
at least partly because people don’t see where their tax money
ends up. In the domain of charitable giving, forthcoming work
with my co-authors Max Gallien and Vanessa van den Boogard,
shows that the vast majority of people are more willing to
distribute their zakat themselves or through other local actors,
rather than through state institutions partially on account of not
knowing where that money ends up.
It’s hard to deny the mountain of evidence for the general lack of
trust as well as the reasons for its existence. In this context,
citizens are well within their right to donate to any civil society
or political actor that they think can provide assistance to those
impacted by a disaster. Getting money, relief goods and other
resources to those who need it the most is the need of the hour.
But this approach is bound to run up against a few challenges in

the subsequent few months. First is the issue of scale — the
flooding is so pervasive, the loss of material resources so high,
and the displacement of such a great magnitude that there is no
one alternative organisation that can deal with it effectively.
Second, there is also an existing imbalance in terms of locations

where non-state relief actors may be concentrated, compared to
other impacted areas which may be less accessible or may not
have as many local NGOs or relief personnel.
Third, the task of reconstruction and rehabilitation of private

and public infrastructure requires far greater resources,
expertise, and coordination. It is unlikely that any civil society
actor can carry it out.
This brings the conversation back to the state itself. As sociologist

Peter Evans pointed out, “the state lies at the centre of solutions
to the problem of order. We do not spend our valuable time
standing in lines in front of the counters of bureaucrats because
we are masochists. We stand there because we need what the
state provides”.
More often than not, it does not provide us with what we need.
But very occasionally it does. The Pakistani state’s past
performance in managing calamities of various sorts is not
abysmal, given existing capacity levels. The Covid-related welfare
response and vaccination drive under the previous government
was reasonably effective. Development geographer, Ayesha
Siddiqi’s work on the 2010 floods highlights how contrary to
mainstream narratives, governmental welfare efforts (cash
transfers in particular) reached a sizable cross-section of the
impacted population, improved state-society levels of trust, and
actually made citizens more likely to demand broad-based policy
responses as opposed to localised, patronage-based solutions.
None of this is to suggest that governmental authorities will

necessarily do a great job in the months ahead. In fact, it is
entirely legitimate to suggest that much of the damage is partially
because the government failed to do its job in the months and
years leading up to the disaster — by not having adequate
systems in place, by encouraging risk-inducing development, and
by underfunding solutions that combat climate change.
The reality, however, is that the scale of the challenge is too great
for civil society, and the institutions of the state are the only
administrative apparatus that we have (for now). Until we have
an alternative that can fund, coordinate, and manage efforts at a
national scale, this is what citizens will have to rely on. In the
following few months as relief efforts give way to reconstruction,
the most suitable task for civil society volunteers and
organisations working on the ground would be to hold the state
accountable, to demand transparency in how money is spent,
and to ensure broader ownership of the rehabilitation efforts.
The writer teaches politics and sociology at Lums.
Twitter: @umairjav

Divided in a national emergency
dawn.com/news/1708495/divided-in-a-national-emergency
September 4, 2022
WHEN calamities strike it usually unites nations. Not so this time

in Pakistan. The worst floods in the country’s history should have
urged political rivals to set aside their partisan interests and
offer a collective response to the catastrophe. But this was
expecting too much. Politics was back to business-as-usual save
for a few days after the deadly monsoon began to wreak
unprecedented devastation across the country.
The most egregious example of this was the letter written by KP’s
Finance Minister Taimur Jhagra to the federal government that
the PTI-run provincial government was unable to deliver a
budget surplus. Sent — and made public — just days before the
IMF board was to meet to consider a loan package, the only
intent of the letter was to upend the bailout. Under the terms of
the IMF deal all provincial governments were required to
generate a fiscal surplus, which they had committed to do, in
writing. As shocking was the leaked phone conversation between
Jhagra and the former federal finance minister in which both
acknowledged this would damage the country but went ahead
with the letter. The Fund programme was of course not derailed.
Board approval on Aug 29 paved the way for disbursement of the
first tranche needed for Pakistan to avert the risk of default.
The humanitarian crisis confronting the country, in the face of an

imposing economic challenge and soaring inflation, warrants a
unified response. It needs political leaders to come together to
deal with a disaster of epic proportions. But this hasn’t
happened. Meanwhile, the enormous displacement and
destruction caused by floods from the exceptional monsoon rain
has spread more widely. This calamity is principally the result of
climate change, responsible for 90 per cent of natural disasters in
the country over the past two decades. But it has been
exacerbated by ill-conceived or illegal river and canal bank
constructions.
The situation is far more dire than it was in 2010 when super
floods last overwhelmed the country. Already more people have
been impacted — over 33 million — and vast swathes of land,
almost a third of the country, inundated by floodwaters. Eighty
districts were declared calamity hit with 110 districts affected by
the disaster. Destruction of homes and infrastructure and
damage to crops has been substantial. The death toll has already
exceeded 1,200 including hundreds of children. Livelihoods have
been destroyed. Eighteen thousand schools have been washed
away. Continuing flooding, inclement weather, transport
disruption and damage to infrastructure hampered relief and
rescue efforts. Images of desperate survivors in a sea of suffering
have been heart-wrenching. Half a million people are in camps.
The economic costs of the catastrophe are initially estimated at
around $10 billion.
The exemplary public role should have been matched by unity and solidarity
among political leaders.
This calamitous state of affairs did little to dissuade some

political leaders to pause their confrontational politics and cease
their divisive rhetoric at least for the time being. The PTI, for
example, went ahead with its public rally in Jhelum in the midst
of chaos in the country. In his address, Imran Khan again struck
a confrontational note while saying his party will do everything
to assist and rehabilitate flood victims. Responding to criticism
he said he will continue to hold rallies in floods, heatwaves and
‘even war’. And he carried on with rallies in other cities with his
tone becoming even more combative. At one rally, a PTI
lawmaker called on overseas Pakistanis not to send funds for
flood relief in response to the federal government’s appeal.
The coalition government mounted its relief operations with

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif offering to work with the
opposition at a time of national emergency and holding out an
olive branch to Imran Khan. But the PTI-run provincial
administrations in KP and Punjab made little attempt to reach
out to the centre. Instead, KP’s chief minister made the
disingenuous claim that the federal government had failed to
help and said no contact had taken place between his provincial
government and the centre since the floods. Punjab’s chief
minister asked Imran Khan and not Islamabad for assistance.
Instead, Pervaiz Elahi seemed preoccupied with a dispute with
the IG police over the appointment of district police officers.
A high-level meeting last week presided over by Prime Minister
Sharif and attended by service chiefs took stock of the situation
and evolved comprehensive relief and rehabilitation plans. It
was boycotted by PTI’s chief minister in KP and Punjab’s Pervaiz
Elahi, although both were invited along with other CMs. The
chief secretaries of these two provinces attended but Khan
directed their political bosses to stay away. Several PML-N
leaders assailed this conduct and renewed their partisan attacks
on PTI on other counts. Several coalition government leaders
continued to lash out at PTI, which further escalated tensions.
Meanwhile, Khan made it plain that funds he was raising would
only be given to Punjab and KP, with his telethon securing record
pledges from overseas Pakistanis. This divided response from
political leaders presented an unedifying spectacle at a time of a
national emergency.
The bright spot in this bleak landscape was the commendable

response from the public and local communities. Generous
support is characteristic of the people who have a long-standing
record of philanthropy. NGOs and private charities all rose to the
challenge and got volunteers on the ground in areas they could
access. Media coverage highlighted where assistance was
urgently needed. Civil society, the business community, media
houses and citizens across the country organised efforts to help
the flood victims. Members of local communities who risked
their lives to save others provided exceptional examples of
courage and heroic action. As did the round-the-clock relief and
evacuation efforts by local officials — men and women — in
several areas. The capacity for endurance of the afflicted also
stood out as testimony to the dignity and resilience of the people.
The exemplary role of the public should be matched by a display
of solidarity among political leaders and parties. But this
continues to be in short supply. An important question raised by
the calamity is whether the country’s political leaders can still
demonstrate the unity and collective resolve needed in the
months ahead to steer the ship of state through these stormy
waters to safer shores.

Herat bombing - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1708333/herat-bombing
September 3, 2022
ANOTHER devastating bombing in Afghanistan — this time

occurring in the western city of Herat — highlights the fragile
state of affairs in the Taliban-run country. The apparent target
was a vocal pro-Taliban cleric, Mujibur Rahman Ansari, who was
killed by a suicide bomber during Friday prayers. At least 18
people perished in the attack. While no group has claimed credit
for the bombing, suspicions have centred on the militant Islamic
State group, which is active in Afghanistan, as the slain preacher
had received threats from the terrorist group. This is the second
high-profile religious personality to have been targeted; last
month IS admitted to having assassinated Rahimullah Haqqani
in his Kabul madressah. Haqqani, who was a relatively liberal
cleric in the Afghan context, also had close links with the ruling
Taliban, while he had been outspoken in his criticism of IS. Days
after Haqqani’s killing, over 20 people died in a Kabul mosque
bombing.
When the Afghan Taliban stormed to power a year ago, one of

their ‘unique selling points’ was that they had pacified the war-
torn country. This was true to an extent, as with the exit of the
US-supported government and its foreign protectors, the war in
Afghanistan effectively ended. However, as the aforementioned
incidents indicate, the country is far from being fully pacified.
The fact is that the threat IS poses to internal Afghan stability, as
well as regional and global security, cannot be understated. What
is particularly worrying about the Herat attack — if it is indeed
traced back to IS — is the fact that the self-styled caliphate has
struck far from its core area in the east of Afghanistan.
Therefore, there is an urgent need for the Taliban, as well as the
international community, to deal with — and neutralise — the IS
threat before it transforms into a multi-headed monster. The
Taliban may be rigid in their outlook, and their lack of progress
in the human rights sphere is holding up international
recognition of their rule. However, if IS were to make prominent
gains in Afghanistan, the international community would be left
dealing with a major security headache. That is why foreign
states, particularly Afghanistan’s neighbours, need to establish a
working relationship with the Taliban to get rid of the IS threat,
while Kabul’s rulers themselves need to play a more proactive
role in preventing the terrorist group from gaining further
strength in the country.
Opinion
Mistreatment of Uighurs
dawn.com/news/1708335/mistreatment-of-uighurs
September 3, 2022
OUTGOING UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet’s report on

state practices in China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region has once
again turned global attention to the mistreatment of the Uighur
minority and raised concerns regarding the practices being used
to suppress the ethnic group on the pretext of counterterrorism
and counter-extremism strategies. Criticising the Chinese state
over serious human rights violations, the report notes that
arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uighur
and other Muslim groups constitutes “crimes against humanity”.
The document also describes reports of violations of Uighur
women’s reproductive rights, including forced abortions and
forced placement of IUDs. It recommends that the Chinese
government take immediate steps to release all individuals
detained in its training centres, prisons and detention facilities.
Beijing, on the other hand, has issued a lengthy rebuttal to the

UN report, which Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang
Wenbin described as “completely illegal and void”. The Chinese
response emphasises the threat of terrorism and claims that its
state-run “deradicalisation” programme and “vocational
education and training centres” have brought “stability” to
Xinjiang, which was wracked by separatist violence a few years
ago. There may be substance to China’s concerns that the Uighur
issue has been politicised to suit its rivals’ foreign policy goals.
Even Ms Bachelet noted as much. “[…] The politicisation of these
serious human rights issues by some states did not help,” she was
quoted as saying while explaining why it took so long to release
the report. Be that as it may, there is too much evidence now on
the record that Chinese practices in Xinjiang are far from
acceptable. Beijing clearly needs to review its policies in the
troubled region if it wishes to maintain its standing as a
responsible state. Violent suppression can only prolong or
worsen internal security challenges rather than solve them
meaningfully. They will also continue to invite global scrutiny. As
a rising superpower, China cannot simply walk away from the
charge that it is perpetrating crimes against humanity.
Opinion
Time to hit ‘pause’ - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1708334/time-to-hit-pause
September 3, 2022
DESPITE nature’s fury having affected over 30m of his fellow

Pakistanis, leaving hundreds of thousands homeless in the worst-
ever weather-related catastrophe this country has seen, former
prime minister Imran Khan shows no signs of calibrating his fury
at being ousted from power.
On Friday, addressing a large rally in Gujrat he accused the

“imported government” of “acting on the instructions of foreign
powers” and warned that PTI supporters would march on
Islamabad if the centre “continued to torture” his party’s leaders
and workers. Last week, at a public gathering in Jhelum, he
declared that his fight for haqeeqi azadi (real independence)
would continue during heatwaves, floods and even wars.
All populist rhetoric is calculated to evoke a visceral response in

its audience — and Mr Khan has proved especially adept at it
since his removal from power — but it is a divisive tactic ill-
suited to the present moment. Even for a country that often
seems to lurch from crisis to crisis, Pakistan is in the midst of a
particularly harrowing ordeal, with the humanitarian crisis
compounded by the harsh conditions the coalition government
has had to agree to for the resumption of the IMF bailout.
However, buoyed by his public support, the former prime
minister is pounding away at his narrative as relentlessly as the
floodwaters that are cutting a swathe of destruction on their way
to the sea.
Read: Instead of being fully engaged with flood relief, our

politicians have opted for cheap showbiz
On Dec 17, 2014, one day after the Army Public School massacre
that killed nearly 150 people, most of them schoolchildren, Mr
Khan announced he was calling off his four-months-long dharna
in Islamabad because the need of the hour was for the nation to
unite. This moment too demands a unified response by not just
the government, but the entire civilian and military leadership.
Does the PTI chief not see how much damage can be caused to
relief and rehabilitation efforts, which also involve aid from
foreign governments and organisations, by whipping up public
sentiment against the authorities? As he looks to regain power,
everything for Mr Khan has become about political point-scoring
— including raising funds for flood victims. At first, he was
inexplicably reluctant about doing so at all, but then better sense
appeared to have prevailed. After his international fundraising
telethon led to pledges worth Rs5bn mainly from overseas
Pakistanis, Mr Khan could not resist turning it into a jibe at the
chief election commissioner about ‘foreign funding’ — an
unwarranted, not to mention illogical, analogy.
Even President Arif Alvi — before modifying his views in

deference to his party chairman’s position — had suggested that
a ‘political pause’ was in order at this time given the devastating
flood situation. Calls for restraint and national solidarity have
come from many others as well, but is Mr Khan capable of
hearing anything other than what he wants to in his echo
chamber?

Scale of destruction
dawn.com/news/1708336/scale-of-destruction
September 3, 2022
AS the world acknowledged the significance of water to lives,

livelihoods and ecosystems during World Water Week, Pakistan
continued to grapple with one of the biggest water-induced
disasters in its history — one that definitively spells out the
dependency between climate change and water. One could not
help but nod in agreement with the author of the article ‘Man-
made catastrophes’ that this newspaper published recently,
wherein it was posited fairly that the current catastrophe is as
much a man-made one as it is nature-induced.
The ‘organic’ growth of towns and cities on greenfield lands that

absorbed water (recharging water aquifers), the development of
infrastructure (electric, transport and human settlements) that
does not allow water to flow through — or worse, infrastructure
built upon pre-existing monsoon season water channels — has
certainly created a situation where our urban areas especially,
and human settlements in general, have become vulnerable to
the atrocities that nature might mete out to us.
But there is an argument to be made that this flawed

developmental approach, though undoubtedly one of the several
faulty avenues that our story of development leads to, is not at
the heart of the story.
The quantum of change that has taken place in global weather

systems recently because of changing living patterns and
resultant climate change is undeniably the biggest cause of this
year’s havoc and misery. From forest fires ravaging lives and
livelihoods across Europe to floods across Asia that have done
the same, the underlying factor remains climate change.
The quantum of change is the biggest cause of the havoc.
What is vastly different about an emerging economy like ours is,

on the one hand, severe financial constraints (for response,
recovery and rebuilding). But, on the other hand, we have been
directly hit by the storm. We have been identified as, and remain,
one of the countries most prone to disaster induced by climate
change. We need to accept that what remains different for us is
the sheer scale of what had already been predicted — and has
happened this year.
When Jackson, Mississippi, faces flooding (as it did this week),

how it is affected is vastly different from when floods hit smaller
towns in Sindh. When Jackson’s water treatment plant floods, it
leaves the 180,000 population without clean drinking water —
and probably with no immediate access to it for several weeks or
months. When towns in Sindh flood, people’s homes are swept
away, lives are lost, livestock (a source of essential nutrition,
wealth, income and social power) perishes, crops are destroyed,
leaving families with no income for the coming year, and there is
no access to healthcare, education or safety and well-being for
entire populations for the foreseeable future.
The National Disaster Management Authority had estimated that

more than 33 million people had been affected (among them
8.2m were declared as the ‘most affected’) across all the four
provinces as well as Gilgit-Baltistan. More than a million houses
had been damaged or destroyed. Over half the districts had been
officially declared by the government of Pakistan to be ‘calamity
hit’ out of the 110 affected overall. Besides, some 4.5m cropped
acreage has been affected, 730,000 livestock perished and there
have been human deaths and injuries in the thousands. The
numbers have been increasing.
But what underlies this sheer scale of destruction and human

misery is, as per reports, this year’s 190 per cent increase in
rainfall over the average the country received in the last 30
years. This deviation is also possibly the ‘new norm’ that we
ought to etch in our memories. Pakistan had been cited as being
highly vulnerable to climate change for some time — the cogs in
the wheels have now begun a new dance and to play another
tune. And we ought to hear them, accept them.
As the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

and the government of Pakistan roll out the country’s 2022 flood
response plan, we must not be looking for scapegoats. Emotions
are rarely discussed in academia — or economics or politics for
that matter — yet they remain the foundation of response and
resilience.
In the face of calamities such as the ones we face today (as
architect Arif Hasan said in these pages recently: ‘It’ll flood
again’), the need is to accept the sheer scale and source of the
catastrophe. And that it will strike again. And again.
We must also appreciate that which has been done right. Great
resilience comes from remaining steadfast and positive in the
face of (recurring) calamities — regardless of the cause.
The writer is an academic with an interest in renewable energy

and project management.
zehra.waheed@lums.edu.pk

Word up - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1708337/word-up
September 3, 2022
THE internet, to keep one’s tongue firmly in the cheek, has its uses.
In the wake of climate-change disasters of increasing frequency, from forest fires in

France, to floods in the Nevada desert, to the calamitous conditions being
experienced here with, God help us, no end in sight, a certain newspaper archival
snippet has been doing the rounds. Forgive me if you’ve already come across it, but
for those who have not, it is apparently a photograph of a brief news item in a
newspaper called the Rodney and Otamatea Times, headlined ‘Coal Consumption
Affecting Climate’.
It says, in its entirety: “The furnaces of the world are now burning about
2,000,000,000 tons of coal a year. When this is burned, uniting with oxygen, it adds
about 7,000,000,000 tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere yearly. This tends to
make the air a more effective blanket for the earth and to raise its temperature. The
effect may be considerable in a few centuries.”
It is dated Aug 14, 1912.

Of course, one can’t believe everything — if much at all — on the internet, especially
on the social media where the algorithms in play ensure the creation of echo
chambers. That, as anyone with an ounce of intelligence will repeat, is the point of
formal news media outlets that have in place elaborate systems of verification and
fact-checking, resulting in them taking ownership of the veracity of the news they
disseminate; thus, their commitment to being held accountable. The University of
WhatsApp and a PhD in Facebook, as a friend puts it, don’t do so well in the rankings.
Of course, one can’t believe everything on the internet.
So, under the beady-eyed glare of news editors with whom I have worked, I set about
searching. As far as I can tell (and to my surprise) the news item is genuine.
According to Snopes, amongst some of the sites I checked, it seems it first showed up
on the internet in 2016 (Oct 11, to be precise) on a Facebook page titled ‘Sustainable
Business Network NZ’. The clipping is reportedly still to be found in the digital
archives of the National Library of New Zealand.
So, Word up! as the expression goes. It is imperative to ensure that the information
one absorbs comes from a credible source. Otherwise, as is the regrettable case with
an unacceptably large proportion of this globe’s multitudes, the ‘truth’, what’s ‘really,
really real’ is nothing more than sound and fury signifying not much at all.
But, that does not mean that other sources cannot more or less be taken as relatively
reliable — at least as a starting point. I use all these qualifiers because, for example,
Wikipedia is not what could traditionally be defined as a credible, responsibility-
taking source of information. The open editing, information gathering, and factual
cross-checking process the model uses means that pretty much the first thing every
schoolchild in this age is taught, is: ‘don’t quote Wikipedia’.
And yet, pretty much everyone I know, including professional copyeditors and fact-
checkers, including myself, often find themselves turning, as a first point of
reference, to this source to get a basic grasp of the concept/data we are handling —
not in our professional lives, but certainly outside that: a song, a poet, a country’s
major indicators. Curious about, say, some aspect of Bolivia, about which I know next
to nothing, looking into Wikipedia can be useful as a fast starting point, after which I
can cross-check with the Encyclopaedia Britannica, or UN data compilations, or a
traditional media outlet I choose to turn to.
It is argued that it is precisely because of its endlessly open-to-editing/revision model,

and the existence everywhere of nitpickers for fact and the meticulous correction of
the record, that Wikipedia is often relatively reliable.
But this entity, too, seems to have joined the ranks of traditional media giants such as
the Guardian, or the New York Times, or Washington Post — most of the English-
language traditional media/news-disseminating sources, including in Pakistan, are
increasingly facing slowing readerships, falling revenues and advertising levels, pay
cuts, and lay-offs. Even Wikipedia is now asking for readers to take on their share of
the financial burden. It would appear that the world has an insatiable appetite for
information, but is not happy to pay salaries to those that painstakingly gather and
process it for them.
One must wonder, then, how much value is now placed on reliable information and
news. Do people still think that ‘really, really real’ is important? Do they recognise
that truth and fact have incalculable worth? By their reading, information
consumption and spending habits, perhaps not. Yet, if you had to look up the
headline of this article in a dictionary, know that there is a multitude of people who
earn a living through these means in an increasingly dumbed-down world.
Commitment doesn’t quite pay the bills.
Word up? Frightening thought: perhaps the tale is increasingly being told by idiots.

hajrahmumtaz@gmail.com

This is generosity
dawn.com/news/1708338/this-is-generosity
September 3, 2022
PAKISTAN’s story is best told pictorially by juxtaposing images at

any given point in time. The current photos and footage of the
catastrophe unleashed by the rain and floods tells all there is to
tell about the leaders and those they profess to lead.
Take a look at some statistics: 33 million people displaced, over

1,200 killed, destruction and damage to crops, livestock and
property reportedly over $10 billion — an estimate that may well
shoot up once the waters recede and more on-sight surveys
become possible.
Old colleague and friend Saima Mohsin who is reporting from

the flooded parts of Sindh for SkyNews did a story from the
National Highway near Dadu last Friday. She was driving with
her crew down the raised road with floodwaters on either side
when she noticed people from a nearby village wading through
waist-deep water to bring their families and belongings to the
dry shoulder of the highway.
What the reporter showed us next would have broken the coldest
of hearts as she pointed to the ‘belongings’, the valuables, the
villagers had saved at the risk of being drowned: a soaked
charpoy with a cotton mattress and a couple of small potlees or
cloth bundles with food and other supplies.
People in every area who suffered the sudden ravages of torrential rains were
angry and had every reason to be.
Of the 33m displaced, Sindh has had to bear the brunt with 44
per cent of that staggering number in the province. Parts of
southern Punjab do not seem far behind with the footage of
grown men on social media breaking down and weeping as they
stand chest-deep in water and talk of having lost their homes and
every other belonging, and having hungry children to feed.
There was one woman, squatting outside a tent on the roadside

somewhere in KP saying, that till days before the rain, her
household used to prepare food for 10 extra people at every meal
and now, she gesticulated to show the scene around her, “We
have become beggars”.
Even in the best of times, the state machinery is rotten,

inefficient and corrupted. Come a natural calamity — even if
there had been warnings of heavy rains ahead of the disaster —
initially there was very little that could have been done to
provide succour to the devastated multitudes.
So, people in every area who suffered the sudden ravages of too
much of a normally scarce commodity were outraged and had
every reason to be. Losing your home, your shelter, your last
refuge even if it is a mud hut, overnight must be the most
traumatic experience one can have.
When that loss is exacerbated by the far larger threat of

starvation, disease and even death of loved ones what will you
not say or do to draw attention to your circumstances? I won’t
even talk of those lamenting their inability to give the dignity of a
burial to their loved ones as they helplessly watched them being
dragged away by the cruel torrents.
The anger and despair of the flood-hit Pakistanis was palpable.

Powerful TV images create their own compulsions and at some
point the administration was spurred into action. Given the scale
of the disaster, even with troops being called out rather belatedly,
no miracles were possible.
One prime example of the shortcomings was the video made of a

Balochistan government helicopter that was literally tossing out
ration bags to people in a rocky terrain from a considerable
height.
The bags were literally exploding on impact with all their content
including wheat flour spilling onto the ground. This ‘aid drop’
was not unique as in KP too people were complaining via a video
clip of a helicopter dropping bulky ration bags on their standing
crops and flattening them. Two KP women also decried that
photo ops dictated the aid handover.
Juxtapose this rather ‘sanitised’ version of facts on the ground (I

just could not muster the courage to put into words some of the
images I have seen) with the images of convoys accompanying
leaders to the affected areas. I mean those leaders who bothered
to go.
The prime minister, his party leaders and the leaders of his allied
parties have gone to the affected areas in long convoys with their
security detail comprising dozens of vehicles including their own
armoured SUVs while trying to display support for those who lost
the shirts off their backs.
Even more grotesque was the dozen-vehicle convoy of the main

opposition leader as he is being guarded by the Islamabad,
Punjab, KP, AJK and GB police (well sort of the opposition leader
as his party is in power in all the mentioned areas except
Islamabad) because he wasn’t even headed in the direction of the
flood-affected people to offer his sympathies. No. He was on his
‘real freedom’ campaign or “power grab” (borrowing here from
Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy’s article published on these pages
yesterday) as that was the main issue of the day and refused to
halt his political meetings, despite the request of his own party’s
man, President Arif Alvi.
Pakistanis are said to give wholeheartedly to charity. But

anonymously. This is for two reasons. One, people with big hearts
are embarrassed by publicity, and two, they don’t want to be
slapped with tax notices if what they give is deemed to be beyond
their declared means.
Is this why none of the many billionaires in the country, and this
may include politicians and other people in positions of immense
power, announced an exemplary personal donation, while they
were happy to be photographed giving government-funded
sewing machines to widows?
Forget this. My hero was the man in a remote, flooded part of
Sindh whose friends heard of his situation and took out a bag of
rations for him. This man standing on the raised, dry road,
surrounded by flooded fields and water dripping from his
clothes, points to another man who’d followed him and was
wading through chest-high water.
He asks his friends to give half the rations to that man: “His
children are hungry too.” The friends can’t hold back their tears.
Neither can the man. Who can?


Trade with enemies
dawn.com/news/1708339/trade-with-enemies
September 3, 2022
PAKISTAN has exempted tomato and onion import from

Afghanistan and Iran from sales and withholding tax for four
months. However, after initial consideration, the federal
government deferred a decision on the import of such
commodities from India. Torrential rains and flash floods have
put additional pressure on Pakistan’s already ailing economy,
and the government has yet to reveal a comprehensive work
plan to deal with the looming crisis.
International aid has started to pour in, which can help deal with
the immediate challenges, but the rehabilitation and rebuilding
of infrastructure will require over $10 billion. The floods have
washed away about half the cropland of the country, and the
threat of food insecurity is very real. The government is looking
for external assistance to deal with the challenges building on
the premise that the flooding was caused by global warming
gases to which Pakistan contributes less than one per cent but on
account of which it still has to pay a hefty price in terms of
environmental damage.
Pakistan’s claim may hold water but is it the only explanation for
the destruction the flooding has caused? Will someone be held
responsible for state policies, institutional responses, society’s
overall mindset, and most importantly, the kind of politics
displayed during the calamity? However, the dichotomous
attitude at the state level is that it wants foreign assistance, but
without changing and reforming the institutes responsible for
dealing with disasters.
Situationer: How trade with India may prove ‘cost-effective’
The National Disaster Management Authority’s response to such

disasters is too slow, which gives less relief and causes more
damage. INGOs have been asking since July for access to the
affected areas, and the NDMA was responsible for assisting and
facilitating them. But it was only towards the end of last week
that 15 INGOs were allowed to help the authorities deal with the
crisis. It is not only about NGOs from the West but also people
from China who faced similar problems when they wanted to
participate in the relief activities.
The federal government fears a political backlash if it allows vegetable imports

from India.
Federal Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has disclosed in his

tweets that international aid agencies are requesting that they be
allowed to bring relief items from India through the land border
for faster aid supply to the affected. However, the government
has not decided to give this concession to the aid agencies.
Pakistan can attract more international assistance with an
inclusive policy to manage the ongoing catastrophe.
The federal government is weak and fears a political backlash if

it allows imports of vegetables from India or gives permission to
aid agencies to help. Once the finance minister floated the idea of
importing vegetables from India, the former ruling party, the PTI,
immediately reacted and opposed the idea. Interestingly, the
Imran Khan government had earlier allowed the private sector
to import 0.5 million tonnes of white sugar, as well as cotton and
yarn, from India, though there was no emergency to allow such
imports, which benefited the business elites of the country. The
import of vegetables can give huge relief to the common man,
though it may not benefit the country’s profiteering mafias.
People deserve relief as they are already under immense

pressure from inflation including the skyrocketing prices of
vegetables. It is estimated that 40 per cent of food is wasted in
Pakistan because of insufficient capacity for storage and
hoarding, and manipulation by middlemen in the agriculture
sector. The government and industrial sector would have to pay
attention to address such deficiencies, and until then, Pakistan
would have to open its markets for cheap vegetables, fruit and
grain.
On the one hand, the establishment has assured the world that its
strategic priorities are now economic-centric. This view has not
been translated into action. State institutions, too, are not taking
this ‘shift’ seriously. Maybe, the so-called shift was linked to
Afghanistan, from where the state decided to import tomatoes
and onions. Although the supply of vegetables and fruit from
Iran and Afghanistan wasn’t stopped, it had only been fulfilling
the demands of the bordering towns.
Nothing new can be said about the advantages and

disadvantages of trade with India as the debate has been going
on for decades. But when Pakistan claims that geo-economics is
its top priority, peaceniks in the region get excited. However,
bitter realities remain in place. Internal political dynamics are
the primary hindrance to progress. The ruling party in India is
into the business of hate when it comes to religious minorities
(mainly the Muslims), and for the BJP, it is difficult to hold out an
olive branch to Pakistan. The current economic and political
crisis has rendered Pakistan’s leadership unable to take bold
decisions. Had Pakistan removed taxes and duties on the imports
from India, it would have been a test for New Delhi to scrap a 200
per cent duty on its imports to Pakistan.
However, the crisis also brings opportunities, and natural

disaster is an area where India and Pakistan can evolve
cooperation as both countries face similar challenges.
Environmental catastrophes ruin lives, businesses and
infrastructure, but they also soften hearts and provide potential
space for peace-building initiatives. Trade and cooperation on
disaster management would not damage the position of either
country on political disputes, including Kashmir. Interestingly,
both countries cooperate to protect their common interest at
international forums. A few weeks ago, Pakistan joined India,
Cuba and 44 African countries in moving a resolution at the WTO
forum to seek sufficient flexibility in intellectual property rights
for developing countries to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
Pakistan and India are celebrating their diamond jubilee year,
and both need to do some soul-searching regarding what they
have achieved with their mutual animosity. As peaceniks often
say, leaders from both sides should think about the kind of legacy
they want to leave behind.

Lost to education - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1708159/lost-to-education
September 2, 2022
AMONG other things, the ongoing floods have dealt a deadly

blow to the educational prospects of millions of children across
the country. According to an estimate provided by the Sindh
education minister, around 2m children in the province could
drop out of school on account of the widespread damage to the
education infrastructure in the 16 most affected districts. With
the addition of these 2m out-of-school children, the total number
of such children in the province will rise to more than 8m — a
massive increase. In this regard, the provincial education
minister’s announcement that an ‘education emergency’ has
been imposed in the province and that the authorities plan to set
up tent schools so that children can keep up is a welcome move
as the measures, if honestly implemented, could help curtail
educational losses.
However, given the PPP-ruled Sindh government’s past

performance in the education sector, it is difficult not to be
sceptical. From accusations of corruption in teachers’
appointments, to the existence of ghost schools, poor resource
management and the recent closure of scores of schools for being
‘unfeasible’, education indicators in the province have shown
little improvement over the decades. Moreover, research also
shows that even the pouring of more and more funds each year
by the provincial government into the sector has had little impact
in terms of improving students’ enrolment or learning outcomes.
Estimates suggest that more than 44pc of the child population
(the five- to 16-year category) in Sindh remain out of the
education framework. That it took the authorities a massive
natural calamity to declare an education emergency smacks of
politics, considering that for decades, experts and rights
organisations had been raising the alarm over the poor standard
of education and asking the provincial government to take
corrective steps. Even so, the authorities now have a chance to
redeem themselves by keeping their promise and helping
millions of affected children — whose education had already
suffered on account of the Covid-19 pandemic — go back to
school.
Opinion
Local wisdom - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1708160/local-wisdom
September 2, 2022
THE chief election commissioner has called upon the Punjab

government to ensure that local government elections in the
province are held immediately. He has cited constitutional and
legal provisions, as well as Supreme Court orders, to justify the
demand. While this paper has always called for the timely
holding of local polls as a constitutional requirement, and
advocated for strong LGs, the fact is that the ECP chief’s
instructions may not be feasible in the midst of the national flood
emergency. Local polls in Punjab, as well as the delayed second
phase in Sindh, need to be held as soon as possible, but only after
the floodwaters have subsided, and the affected people are in a
position to exercise their right to adult franchise. While the
central and northern parts of Punjab have fared relatively better
where the floods are concerned, the southern parts of the
province bordering Sindh and Balochistan have been hit hard,
which means immediate LG polls in these areas will hardly be
possible. Moreover, with the weatherman forecasting more rains
for this month, relief and rehabilitation work may be affected,
further delaying local polls.
Once people in Punjab and Sindh are in position to cast their

votes — with their homes rebuilt and livelihoods restored — the
LG polls should go ahead without delay. However, the political
actors involved need to be asked why local polls have constantly
been put off. For example, by law, LG polls should be held 120
days after the expiry of the local bodies’ terms. In Sindh, the LGs
completed their term in August 2020; the first leg of LG polls was
only held in the province in June of this year, clearly beyond the
120-day legal limit. The floods have struck hard, but why did the
Sindh and Punjab governments not hold the elections in better
times? The fact is that all political parties fear that empowered
local bodies will dent their politics of patronage, and were it not
for the pressure of the courts, the parties would be least
interested in holding these crucial polls.
It is also true that working LGs can play a more effective role in
all stages of managing natural disasters, much better than MNAs
and MPAs preoccupied with power politics, or ‘VIPs’ that
parachute in for a brief period. Whether it is organising civil
defence, helping evacuate settlements or coordinating relief and
rehabilitation work, it is the LG representatives who are closest
to the people, and can better communicate their needs to the
federal and provincial governments, as well as to donors. While
LGs can play a crucial disaster-mitigation role in the flood-prone
rural areas, even in the cities they can help better deal with
urban flooding. Elected local bodies may not be able to prevent
natural disasters, but they can surely play a constructive part in
building resilience to natural calamities.
Opinion
Inflation concerns
dawn.com/news/1708161/inflation-concerns
September 2, 2022
THE prices of goods and services we use daily have surged at

breakneck speed since June. The CPI has cumulatively swelled by
more than 13pc in the last three months as energy subsidies are
revoked, and taxes and levies imposed on fuels. Financial
analysts argue that an increase of this scale in the inflation index
is usually seen in a period spanning 12 to 18 months. No wonder
inflation in August spiked to the almost 50-year high of 27.3pc,
the third fastest increase in the prices of consumer goods and
services since April 1975, and the fifth since October 1973. The
new prices don’t even capture fully the impact on food or non-
food inflation resulting from the floods that have ravaged the
country, damaged the communication infrastructure, and swept
away ready food and crops. The inflation numbers show that
transport became pricier by 63pc, food by 31pc, housing and
utilities by 27.6pc, clothing and footwear by 17.6pc, education by
10pc and health by 11.8pc last month amidst projections that,
once slotted in, the impact of the deluge will drive up the cost of
living even further over the next several months.
The impact of this year’s catastrophic floods on the people and

the economy will become clearer over the next few weeks. The
IMF has projected the average inflation for the present fiscal at
19.9pc and the State Bank in the region of 18pc and 20pc, which
they might have to revise upwards to 22pc to 24pc once the
economic impact of the devastation is fully factored into their
fresh assessments. Thus, price inflation, especially food inflation,
should be the key concern of the government, considering that
no data — no matter how accurate it is — can truly capture the
misery of the people. In the last few years, the middle-class
segment has seen runaway inflation wear down its already
stretched savings, destabilise its household budgets, and hugely
erode its purchasing power. The people deserve some relief and
protection from the rapidly surging cost of living. With the IMF
programme back on track, it is time for Finance Minister Miftah
Ismail to focus on reducing inflation in the country. No one is
saying that it will be an easy job considering the damage done by
the rains and floods, as well as the uncertain global economic
environment. But in the long term, he will be remembered by the
people for his performance on this front, and not for reviving the
IMF deal.
Opinion
Nature’s fury - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1708162/natures-fury
September 2, 2022
IT has been a while that we have been hearing about climate

change, climate displacement, and efforts to mitigate climate
change effects at the global and national level. Many saw it as a
problem of the future, something that need not cause worry right
now. There were also those who had never heard of buzzwords
like ‘climate mitigation’ and ‘adaptation’. I am referring to the
people of Balochistan. The truth is, however, that they have been
living through climate change for some time now. There has been
a serious shortage of water in many parts of the province,
including Quetta and Gwadar city. Dams in Gwadar district had
dried up on account of little rainfall over the years, and in Quetta
people were digging ever deeper wells in search of water. One
couldn’t have predicted that more than half of Balochistan would
be under water before July this year.
The people of Lasbela, which is close to Karachi and is the home
district of the former chief minister of Balochistan, Jam Kamal
Alyani, were the first victims of flash floods this monsoon season.
Torrential rains wreaked havoc in parts of the district, damaging
homes and farmland. Rains also lashed Makran region and
devastated date farms. In August, all of Naseerabad division,
Killa Saifullah, Killa Abdullah, Musakhail, and many other
districts of Balochistan were flooded due to heavy downpours. At
least 235 people have died and thousands have been rendered
homeless, and more than 200,000 acres cultivated land has been
affected. Road links between Quetta — which saw continuous
rain for 15 hours — and many districts, including Jhal Magsi and
Bolan, are still severed. This year, the people of Balochistan are
experiencing climate change in all its fury.
The situation is catastrophic. Entire villages have been washed

away and districts inundated; road networks are damaged; and
standing crops, the main sources of livelihood for many people,
are destroyed.
In the face of such a calamity, however, the government of

Balochistan is sleeping. Chief Minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo is
nowhere to be seen. There aren’t any visible government efforts
for people’s rescue and relief. The province’s chief executive and
his spokesperson seem to have a flippant attitude. The latter was
heard callously telling mediapersons in Islamabad during a press
briefing that the chief minister is up all night worrying about the
people of Balochistan, and that’s why he is asleep during the day.
One wonders how such a non-serious government and a sleeping
CM can handle the responsibility for the massive rescue, relief,
and rehabilitation operations required.
The Balochistan government appears to be asleep.
In the absence of the state, the burden has fallen
disproportionately on community organisations, young activists,
and local NGOs. People are running donation campaigns and
carrying out relief drives without any support from the
government. However, rehabilitation and rebuilding of homes
and roads cannot be carried out by individuals. The provincial
and federal governments have to step in.
Very few politicians in Balochistan have demonstrated a sense of

responsibility towards the people of their constituencies. Jam
Kamal Alyani is one of them. He has been present on the ground
in Lasbela, monitoring the relief operations, coordinating with
the district administration, and drawing the attention of the
prime minister and chief minister towards the plight of flood-
affected people. Many other bigwigs who had been complaining
about misgovernance and corruption in the province are missing
from the scene. PTI MPA Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind doesn’t
seem to care about the suffering of the people in his inundated
district, but had all the time to travel back and forth from
Islamabad when he was trying to topple the Bizenjo government
some months ago. At the same time, the opposition too is not
putting much pressure on the government where relief efforts
are concerned. Consider that BNP-Mengal was a strong critic of
Mr Alyani while he was heading the provincial government;
however, they have given a free hand to Mr Bizenjo. The
opposition apparently prefers to remain on the side of an
incompetent chief minister than the people of Balochistan.
A non-functional government and friendly opposition aside,

Balochistan has neither the resources nor capacity to rehabilitate
all the flood victims and reconstruct the infrastructure on its
own. The estimated losses are in billions of dollars. International
organisations must come forward to help not only the people of
Balochistan, but also those that have been affected in Sindh,
Punjab, Khyber Pakthunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan. For
assessment of damages and rehabilitation costs, the Balochistan
government should seek out experts as soon as possible. It must
also formulate a strategy to deal with such extreme climate
events in the future. Climate change is real, and it is here.
The writer is a research analyst at an international organisation

and a Fulbright alumna.
Twitter: @MerryBaloch

Police and ministers
dawn.com/news/1708163/police-and-ministers
September 2, 2022
JAMSHED Nagarwala, an exceptionally able deputy

commissioner of police in charge of the Bombay CID, was
disturbed by the first and unsuccessful attempt on Gandhi’s life
on Jan 20, 1948, by Madanlal Pahwa. Nagarwala sought Bombay
home minister Morarji Desai’s permission to arrest Savarkar, a
leader of the Hindu Mahasabha. Desai refused.
In law, Nagarwalla was not bound to seek any minister’s

permission and the minister had no right to speak. But the
ministers, new to power, had a disdain for the law. (Read The
Faltering State by that upright officer of the highest rank who
rose to be head of Pakistan’s federal police. His account of
political interference is shocking.)
In law, Nagarwala had no business to seek Desai’s permission
and Desai had no right to give or refuse it. But for this, Gandhi’s
life might have been saved.
The law is clearly stated by a British judge of the highest

eminence, Lord Denning: “I hold it to be the duty of the
commissioner of police of the metropolis, as it is of every chief
constable, to enforce the law of the land. He must take steps so to
post his men that crimes may be detected; and that honest
citizens may go about their affairs in peace. He must decide
whether or not suspected persons are to be prosecuted; and, if
need be, bring the prosecution or see that it is brought. But in all
these things he is not the servant of anyone, save of the law itself.
No minister of the Crown can tell him that he must, or must not,
keep observation on this place or that; or that he must, or must
not, prosecute this man or that one. Nor can any police authority
tell him so. The responsibility for law enforcement lies on him.
He is answerable to the law and to the law alone.”
The police force is a creature of the police law.
The police force is a creature of the police law that no minister

can override. “Every responsible citizen has an interest in seeing
that the law is enforced: and that is sufficient interest in itself to
warrant his applying for certiorari or mandamus to see that it is
enforced,” wrote Lord Denning.
In January 1996, India’s supreme court observed: “Our

intelligence agencies have men of high competence … but
unfortunately they function only with people in power … We are
constrained to say that the people in power have completely bent
it [the investigating agency].”
A report of the National Police Commission of August 1979
recalled: “As far as investigative tasks are concerned we have a
clear ruling from the supreme court that the nature of action to
be taken on conclusion of investigation is a matter to be decided
by the police only and by no other authority… .
“It may, therefore, be safely projected as a fundamental principle

governing police work that the investigative tasks of the police
are beyond any kind of intervention by the executive or non-
executive. Any arrangement in which the investigative tasks of
the police are sought to be brought under executive control and
direction would go against this fundamental principle spelt out
by the supreme court and hence should be deemed illegal.”
In 1967, a special bench of the Calcutta high court authoritatively

stated the law in the famous ‘gherao’ case: “The criminal law of
the land is principally contained in the Indian Penal Code and
the Code of Criminal Procedure. The former lays down the
substantive law and the latter the procedural law. There are
police acts which are applicable in various jurisdictions. Various
other acts have declared the commission of certain acts to be
penal offences. … Once the laws are made, whether substantive
or procedural, neither the governor nor the cabinet nor the
ministers nor a subordinate executive authority has the power to
add to or detract from its content, to interfere with its working…
.”
In The Role of the Supreme Court in American Government, the

special prosecutor Archibald Cox, mentioned his dilemma in the
matter of the Nixon tapes. “The habit of compliance — the notion
that a powerful executive official has no choice but to comply
with a judicial decree — is a fragile bond. Who could say in an
age of presidential aggrandisement that if one president
succeeded in his defiance, he and others might not follow that
example until ours was no longer a government of law? How far
was a man justified in provoking this kind of constitutional crisis
with the outcome so uncertain?
“‘My fears proved fantasies. President Nixon’s announcement [of

sacking Cox] evoked a public reaction which his chief aide later
described as a ‘fire storm’. Within seventy-two hours, the
president changed his mind and promised to comply with the
decree. A bit later, a new special prosecutor was appointed and
the independence of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force
was restored.”
The judges nobly stood by the nation. The nation must stand by
the judges and see to it that the government abides by the court’s
orders and the law of the land.

The reality of foreign assistance
dawn.com/news/1708165/the-reality-of-foreign-assistance
September 2, 2022
IN the modern age, no country can flourish in isolation. They

have to trade: whether for fuel, technology, labour, etc. Pakistan
wants to import much, but has limited competitive goods to sell
in return — so it takes from international lenders or relies on aid
to plug the gap. This is where donor agencies and multilateral
lenders, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the
World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, step in. They
provide grants or loans on cheaper terms than commercial
sources, but usually with strings attached.
In a September 2018 article for The Guardian, writer, lecturer

and broadcaster Kenan Malik, making note of former British PM
Theresa May’s proclamation that, “in the post-Brexit world,
Britain’s aid budget would be used to promote British trade and
political interests”, had described foreign aid as a “fraud”
perpetuated by rich countries to bribe or blackmail weaker
economies.
In Pakistan, while a few donor agencies usually work through

the government, most agencies also sponsor projects themselves
(with funds routed through the Economic Affairs Division, etc).
International NGOs bring in their own funds or implement their
donors’ projects. To illustrate, let’s say there are some 17-20
major donor agencies present in the country and perhaps 20
significant INGOs. Each of these might have many projects
ongoing, and some projects may involve numerous national and
local NGOs. Therefore, at a time, hundreds of projects/local
partners can be working in diverse sectors under the guidance of
these foreign agencies and INGOs. This has meant that there has
not been a fully integrated development strategy or programme
for the country over the last few decades. Such outsourcing of
country priorities and development strategy and implementation
goes against any recognised concept of management.
When projects end, experienced and trained project staff are let
go. There is a knock-on effect on government capacity, as its
regular staff has missed out on that experience and training in
programme design, documentation and implementation
oversight. Institutional learning and memory are lost.
A mature country does not require international agencies to coerce it towards

prudent financial management.
Kenan Malik, in the same article mentioned earlier, had found

multilateral funding, such as by institutions like the IMF,
similarly determined by the interests of powerful countries.
There is reason to agree. The IMF’s decisions are not made under
a one-country-one-vote system, but with votes that are
distributed in proportion to a country’s funding contribution to
the agency. Therefore, while Pakistan has 0.4 per cent votes, the
US has 16.5pc votes, and its close allies Japan, Germany, UK and
France have 6pc, 5pc, and 4pc, respectively. China has a 6pc
voting share. Clearly, the West controls decision-making at the
agency.
Interestingly, in fiscal year 2021, Pakistan paid back $600 million

more to the IMF than it received from it, while in FY20 Pakistan
received a net $2.1 billion. In total, the net of all multilateral and
bilateral funds received in July-March of FY22 was only about
$5bn. For a country with an ‘official’ GDP of $380bn, these
amounts seem tiny. It would seem quite a mystery as to why its
successive governments have remained so deferential to rich
countries.
The reason is that on the one hand, the country’s expenditures

(and imports) far exceed its revenues (and exports). On the other
hand, there is the fear of sanctions. The country’s exports, its
overseas workers and acquisition of defence equipment are all
highly vulnerable to sanctions. Our overseas workers are mostly
unskilled, and relatively easily replaced from other poor
countries. A little Middle East regime in a bad mood can do us
much harm.
One of the reasons why the country has foregone cheap gas and
electricity from Iran and now cheap oil from Russia is that our
meagre exports are also easily replaceable. Cotton manufactures,
leather and rice still make up 70pc of our exports. Pakistan’s
major export destinations are 21pc to the US, 11pc to China, 7pc
to the UK, 5pc to Germany and so on. It relies on being granted a
‘favoured’ status by Western countries to export there. An
annoyed West can get towels from elsewhere and also refuse
visas to eager officials with many future expectations. In the past,
there have been instances where delivery of military equipment
for which payment had already been made was delayed over a
perceived slight.
A mature country does not require international agencies to

coerce it towards prudent financial management. To be truly
sovereign, Pakistan must balance its expenditures with its
revenues. IMF conditionalities essentially require a country to
spend within its means. The recipient country can decide itself
where to make spending cuts: for instance, whether to cut
services for the poor or whether to rein in the rich and powerful.
The lender’s priority is to recover its loans — it does not take
responsibility for any adverse impact on the country’s citizens.
Pakistan needs to make itself resilient to external pressure.

Firstly, the more trained and skilled our overseas workers are,
the higher paid and less easily replaced they will be. Second,
export destinations and export goods must be diversified.
Exports should be won in open competition, not by relying on
receiving favoured nation status. Thirdly, self-reliance in
producing defence equipment ought to be a goal. This will be
possible with a defence strategy as appropriate for a poor
country, which is necessarily different from the strategies of the
great powers, where many of our military officials receive their
training. Defence expenditures can also be financed by
manufacturing and exporting military equipment, but under
civilian financial management.
The writer is the author of Pakistan: Principles of Public Policy

Redefined.
zua2@cornell.edu
Floods and photo ops
dawn.com/news/1708166/floods-and-photo-ops
September 2, 2022
WITH monster floods and a third of Pakistan submerged, world

figures have expressed sorrow and promised some aid. While
actual needs are huge, this at least shows empathy with victims.
But within Pakistan public efforts are nowhere close to the
massive, countrywide, readily organised ones that followed the
2005 earthquake. This underscores a sharp decrease of public
trust in the state and its political leaders. Squarely at fault are
politicians who, instead of being fully engaged with emergency
relief, have opted for cheap showbiz while continuing to bash
one other.
Before taking a U-turn in the face of mounting public disgust,

Imran Khan thundered that heatwaves, floods and wars cannot
stop him from holding anti-government mass rallies. These
would continue, he said, until the ‘thieves’ in the current
‘imported government’ were sent packing and Pakistan attained
‘haqeeqi azadi’ — a euphemism for his power grab. Nor would he
gather funds for KP flood victims, he declared, because of his
multiple philanthropic ventures like Shaukat Khanum Hospital.
When pressured, Khan changed his mind on this point too.
By now Khan’s uncountable U-turns are too commonplace to

merit comment. Still, to single out Khan as a heartless self-seeker
is a travesty. A recent Dawn op-ed underscored the damning lack
of empathy all around. Instead of meaningful acts of leadership
there were only camp visitations and helicopter food-droppings.
The relief circus’s star performers included Shahbaz Sharif on
the high trapeze with Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Murad Ali Shah
swinging just below. This black comedy was not quite hilarious.
Do these politicians assume our people to be so stupid that a

photo op with village survivors will make them look good? Or
expect the three-lakh-rupee per hour helicopter joyrides is good
PR?
Pakistan will forever have rapacious leaders unless its people absorb universal
human values and learn to think.
Past floods and disasters were no different. During the 2010

floods that left a quarter of Pakistan submerged, then president
Asif Ali Zardari had his PR crew photograph him while
embracing a crying woman at a relief camp in Sukkur. The next
pit stop was Nowshera for another photo op before he
accompanied UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon on another
helicopter ride to survey submerged farmland in south Punjab.
Zardari’s damage control was occasioned by public outrage that
forced him to cut short his vacation in Europe. Although
floodwaters were peaking, he and his entourage were enjoying
his 16th-century chateau in Normandy, France. Built for the
widow of King Philippe VI, it was his favourite spot for
entertaining royalty. On the way back he had a quick photo op
with French president Nicolas Sarkozy and British prime
minister David Cameron.
Two days ago, emulating his party leader, PPP leader Manzoor
Wassan toured the floods in Khairpur and fondly reminisced of
his vacation time paddling the idyllic canals of Venice, Italy. He
had not, of course, seen dead bodies floating around there.
Today’s tragedies are dwarfed by the still greater tragedy of 1947

when millions of refugees were pouring into Punjab. To resettle
traumatised people who had lost family members and
possessions was the crying need of the hour. But Muslim League
politicians, who were mostly large landlords, were too busy
seizing the lands of fleeing Hindus and Sikhs. Bitter power
struggles were everywhere.
No infighting was fiercer than that between two landed

aristocrats, Punjab’s chief minister Nawab Mamdot and finance
minister Mumtaz Daultana. This threatened to split the Muslim
League. Alarmed, terminally ill Jinnah ordered both ML stalwarts
to Karachi where he sternly ordered them to desist. It worked for
three weeks only. Thereafter Jinnah asked Sir Francis Mudie,
then Punjab governor, to mediate. Mudie tried but failed. After
Jinnah’s death Liaquat Ali Khan sided with Daultana. A disgusted
Mudie resigned and left for England in 1949. The ML crashed
barely two years later.
But it is the Bhola cyclone of 1970 which, more than anything
else, exposed the rapaciousness and incompetence of West
Pakistan’s elite and set the stage for the 1971 breakup. The
deadliest cyclone of recorded history, it killed 0.5 million East
Pakistanis. In terms of lost lives this makes it 300-500 times more
destructive than today’s flood.
Reporting in West Pakistan, however, was sparse. Anger soon

grew at Gen Yahya Khan’s insensitive and inept martial law
administration that watched and did little except call for
international aid. That aid, said Yahya, the army would alone
disburse. Every Bengali knew what this meant.
Pakistan has been cursed with leaders, civil and military, who
have run it down to successive lows. One cannot conceive it
producing a statesman like Mikhail Gorbachev. When he died a
few days ago at age 91, even ideological foes did not accuse him
of power or money hunger. None deny that he brought the Cold
War to a relatively peaceful end instead of a wild shootout with a
flailing Soviet Union unleashing its nuclear weapons.
Still harder to imagine is a Pakistani version of Jacinda Ardern

who in 2019 rushed to the scene of mass shootings at a mosque
and declared in words that still ring loud: they are us. Had the
likes of her been Pakistan’s prime minister today, the
government response to the floods would have been entirely
different.
In the ultimate analysis, leaders reflect the values and quality of

their followers. The famous Milgram experiments of 1961,
confirmed thereafter by Asch and other psychologists, help
understand how leaders are chosen. Briefly: a subject (read,
party supporter) often has neither ability nor expertise to make
decisions. Especially in a crisis, he leaves this to his group and its
leader. Obedience relieves him of taking personal responsibility.
One part of human nature is to be sheep.
In a nutshell: the psychology of the follower matters more than

the psychology of the leader. Those who lack critical thinking
skills are easily led and manipulated. They can be made to think
or do virtually anything or tolerate any kind of ruler. Pakistan’s
only defence against venal, rapacious, or ideologically charged
leaders is for its population to absorb universal human values
and accept the rule of law. Once our people take these as
seriously as they take religious rituals, the tide of battle will turn.
The writer is an Islamabad-based physicist and author.

Gorbachev’s demise
dawn.com/news/1708003/gorbachevs-demise
September 2, 2022
IN the modern Soviet/Russian pantheon, while Vladimir Lenin

will be remembered for laying the foundations of the USSR,
Joseph Stalin for defending the country from the Nazi onslaught
of World War II (as well as murderous internal purges), Mikhail
Gorbachev, who died on Tuesday, will forever be associated with
the dissolution of the Soviet Union. That he intended to dissolve
the world’s geographically largest country, and second
superpower is unlikely. But the reforms he initiated after taking
up the reins of the USSR in the mid-1980s set in motion the death
throes of the communist nation, and with it the demise of the
erstwhile Eastern bloc. History will, therefore, remember
Gorbachev for ending the Cold War and thereafter sealing the
fate of the USSR. The latter task was achieved, perhaps
unwittingly, through his policies of glasnost (openness) and
perestroika (restructuring). These policies helped lift the lid off
discontent in the USSR. In our part of the world, Gorbachev will
also be remembered for pulling the Red Army out of Afghanistan,
and ending the USSR’s decade-long imperial folly.
Many in the West have feted Gorbachev for helping end the Cold
War. However, this epochal moment — which marked the ‘end of
history’, as per Francis Fukuyama — also ushered in the
beginning of American unipolarity, which is now being
challenged by a resurgent Russia, and a proactive China. At
home, though, feelings relating to Gorbachev remained mixed, as
Russian living standards dropped considerably during the chaos
of Boris Yeltsin’s rule, while the Soviet command economy was
devoured and divided up by rapacious oligarchs in an ugly
display of hyper-capitalism. As Vladimir Putin views it, the end of
the USSR was the “biggest geopolitical tragedy” of the 20th
century. Certainly, while the USSR was imperfect in many ways, it
did bring health and education to millions of its citizens.
Ironically, as the world marks Mikhail Gorbachev’s passing, his
country and the West are again on a collision course, much as
they were during the Cold War.
Opinion
Importing from India
dawn.com/news/1708004/importing-from-india
September 2, 2022
AMIDST widespread destruction of vital food crops due to floods,

fresh proposals have been raised to resume trade with our
eastern neighbour which, due to its geographical proximity and
agricultural similarities, can provide the quickest means of
bridging a looming demand-supply shortfall in various kitchen
commodities. The question of whether or not this can happen is a
tricky one because talk of any ties with India — be they purely
economic in nature — invites a knee-jerk reaction and a fair bit
of politicking from any faction looking to make some quick
political capital. In purely logistical terms, it makes sense for
Pakistan to first tap its neighbours for its immediate needs before
turning to global markets. Both the cost of shipment and the time
taken for the goods to reach local markets will be much lower in
case foodstuff is imported from India rather than anywhere else.
Faced with a situation where every penny spent on imports must
be spent conservatively, our policymakers will find few choices
that are more cost-effective in this regard. The end-consumers,
too, will benefit from the lower cost and quicker availability of
items of everyday use. Resuming imports can also provide a
blueprint for the broader resumption of routine commerce
between Pakistan and India in the future.
It is necessary, however, that Pakistan’s political leadership as

well as the state arrive at the same conclusion regarding trade
with India. Any decision taken must not fall victim to infighting
and politicking at the expense of whoever formally gives the call
to proceed. Since most of the political parties are already part of
the coalition government, they may find it easier to arrive at a
consensus on the matter. However, the PTI, too, must see reason
and consider the greater national interest during a time of
unprecedented calamity, instead of seeing this as an opportunity
to settle old scores. The party had been seriously considering the
possibility of trade resumption shortly before its ouster and had
even formally announced a restoration of trade ties in April last
year before rolling it back. Though both the PML-N and PPP had
loudly resisted restoration of trade back then, the PTI would
serve the nation well by avoiding retaliation now. If it has
reviewed and understood the plus points of trade with India —
and its earlier moves suggest that it has — it must not prevent the
people from benefiting from it.
Opinion
Impact on industry
dawn.com/news/1708005/impact-on-industry
September 2, 2022
THE economic picture emerging in the midst of the extensive

devastation caused by this year’s unprecedented monsoon rains
and flooding in vast parts of the country is very similar to the one
seen during the Covid-related restrictions in 2020. While the
demand destruction may not be as intense or across the board as
the one induced by the global pandemic, the deluge triggered by
climate change shows that the economy is going to slow down
significantly in the near to medium term. That carmakers, tractor
manufacturers and steel producers are already ‘temporarily’
shutting down their plants because of shrinking demand is just
one sign of how the economic landscape is shaping up. The
impact of the reduction in demand will not remain confined to
large industries; it will soon spread to small and medium-sized
industries and other businesses too.
Torrential rains and flash floods have ravaged the country at a

time when the economy was already facing strong headwinds
and the government was taking measures to stabilise it under
IMF oversight and putting curbs on imports including industrial
raw material and spare parts to close the burgeoning trade gap
and hold down the expanding current account deficit. With over
5,000km of roads and bridges swept away by floodwaters across
the country, the damaged communication infrastructure has
made it even harder for companies to transport their goods for
delivery from one place to another. Flood-related crop losses,
which many analysts expect to be massive, are going to dampen
demand and retard growth prospects further during the present
fiscal year.
As the economy struggles to recover from the liquidity crisis, the
huge contraction in both public and private investment, together
with the economic losses caused by the floods, is likely to delay
the revival of growth for a period longer than initially
anticipated. On top of that, it is feared that the recession building
up in developed economies will put further pressure on our
deteriorating economic situation. The impact of these factors on
the economy is expected to be across the board, with industry,
agriculture and construction taking the bigger hit. The reduction
in the output of large-scale industry and major Kharif crops will
also significantly affect both small manufacturers and the
services sector. During the pandemic, the IMF as well as other
multilateral lenders had stepped up to help poor nations like
Pakistan and generously financed them to protect their
economies and people from the impact of the global lockdown. At
the same time, the government and central bank here had
implemented several initiatives to help business stay afloat, save
jobs and encourage investments. The possibility of the world,
including multilateral agencies, lending a hand in the
rehabilitation of flood-affected populations might be a
reasonable expectation. But will the IMF allow the government to
digress from the conditions of its recently restored loan facility?
Not likely.

Opinion
Future at risk? - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1708009/future-at-risk
September 2, 2022
OUR educational outcomes have never been great. All

examination results, sample-based testing of children and other
outcome indicators, show that clearly. And this has been the case
for most of our history in Pakistan. The Annual Status of
Education Reports have been documenting learning outcomes
for at least a decade. Each report shows the dismal state of
education in Pakistan. Even more depressingly, they show there
is no improvement trend in learning outcomes.
We have been somewhat successful in increasing enrolments —

more at the primary level than at the middle and high school
level, but there has been some improvement. The data on
learning outcomes, though, is more static.
And then two and a half years ago, we were hit by Covid-19.
There were lockdowns for a period of some months but even
when these became more sporadic, schools remained closed for
months more. Schools have had to be closed down a number of
times over these two years.
There is a lot of evidence that has now been gathered that these
two years have set us back substantially in terms of educational
outcomes. Many students did not come back to school when
schools reopened. A lot of families experienced income and
employment shocks due to Covid-19; many responded by pulling
their children out of school. Even for those who have been able
to come back, there is substantial ‘learning loss’ and many
children have forgotten what they had learnt before the crisis hit.
Though there was some effort to cover older ground before going
forward, this effort was not very systematic, organised and
widespread. The effects of learning losses will be with us for
some time.
The losses sustained during school closures and disruption are not recouped
easily.
If children have problems in understanding basic concepts, if the

latter have not been covered properly and/or if the children have
forgotten concepts, the students will have problems learning
advanced concepts, with early problems being compounded. So
the impact of the learning loss stays with children for a long time.
This summer we have been hit by the floods as well. Thousands

of schools have been inundated and many damaged. It is not
clear when these schools will be able to start the education
process again.
We have evidence from the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake
that school closures have a long-term impact on children’s
education. The losses sustained during closure and disruption
are not recouped easily.
The struggle right now is to provide relief to the millions who

have been impacted by the floods, and rightly so as food, clothing
and shelter needs are of paramount importance. But when the
monsoons are over and the waters recede, the conversation will
need to go to rehabilitation and reconstruction. Getting
infrastructure back is hard. It requires a lot of resources and
time. The schools that have been damaged will need expenditure
in terms of both money and time. But this is not the only issue at
stake here.
How are we going to get children back to school? Many families

have been wiped out financially by the floods. Relief and
rehabilitation/ reconstruction is going to be their first priority.
Will they be able to send their children back to school? When
will that happen if they can?
If the children do come back to school, will schools be able to

ensure they are able to repeat some of the work that was done
before the floods forced closures? Will learning losses be
removed before children are taught new things? As mentioned,
we do not have a good record of addressing learning losses. Will
it be different this time?
There has been some talk that the Prime Minister’s Office is
mulling over a relief package for students of the flood-affected
areas. This package might include reducing tuition fees for
college-going students in the area and scholarships as well. But
what is being talked about is a) at college and university level,
and b) about making the cost of education less. There has not
been, as of now, any thinking about what will need to happen at
the school level.
What is needed is a detailed plan about how the damaged schools

are going to be rehabilitated or reconstructed. We need cost
estimates for this and we need to figure out where the budgeted
amount is going to come from and how long it would take to
rehabilitate schools.
We need to figure out how we are going to get all the children
back in school. Will this require conditional cash transfers or
similar incentives or will public campaigns suffice? The
provincial departments of education need to start work on what
the closure will imply for what should be taught when children
do get back to school. Which learning objectives will need
repetition and/or reinforcement, how much of the course would
need to be repeated, and when we move forward which learning
objectives might have to be dropped? What should be the pace of
teaching for the first few months?
There is already some literature that suggests that one of the

reasons for the low quality of education is that we try to teach
too much to students and too fast. Teachers worry more about
covering the syllabus than about what students learn. If we try to
do all the course work that was being planned before the floods
came, we are going to compound the problem. We hope the
departments of education will start work on the issue now so
that we are ready with optimal plans by the time schools start
again.
Access to quality education has been an issue for us throughout.
Covid-19 made the problem a lot worse and now we have been
hit by floods as well. This is going to create a whole cohort of
children who will be lost to education. To minimise the negative
impact, we have to plan now.


What’s to be done? - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1708006/whats-to-be-done
September 2, 2022
IT has taken the slow-moving wreck of monsoon rains to become

a full-fledged tragedy for the mainstream to take notice, but
many will still pass off numbers like almost 35 million people
displaced and millions of acres of arable land inundated as just
another ‘natural disaster’?
This is why it is essential for those of us whose commitment to

the proverbial wretched of the earth and natural ecosystems
extends beyond the episodic to once again articulate the man-
made triggers of the current floods and how to build a
meaningful long-term response.
Climate change is political: First, the term ‘climate change’
must be put into political-economic context; nature is not simply
metamorphosing independently of human action. Earth’s
temperature has warmed by 1.3 degrees Celsius since the
inception of the modern industrial order under the Western
capitalist powers. We were first losers of this system during the
era of direct colonialism and today we are bearing
environmental costs that high-carbon-emitting Western countries
have externalised.
It is thus that many in Pakistan and elsewhere are again calling

for climate reparations, decarbonisation and debt cancellation.
The belated attention that the floods have garnered globally have
forced the usual suspects in the ‘international community’ to
mobilise some money for relief, and the state will gladly accept
whatever it can get, following from the absurdly celebratory
mood at the release of the IMF tranche of $1.3 billion.
It is important to come together to prioritise preventive action.
Debt is a major tool through which states like Pakistan are

disciplined on the global stage; goodwill gestures on the part of
ostensibly gracious donors mean nothing without a serious
reckoning with the fundamental logic of the capitalist world-
system.
The other side of this equation is Pakistan’s domestic political

economy; the hegemony of regional and global powers and MNCs
directly corresponds to the rapacious profiteering of our own
landed, industrial, commercial and financial elites and complicit
state institutions.
Why is it that millions of Seraikis, Sindhis, Baloch, Gilgit-
Baltistanis etc, are again drowning only 12 years after the 2010
super floods described as a once-in-a-generation event? Because
successive governments, military officials, civil bureaucrats,
‘expert’ engineers and the capitalist class have carried on with
business as usual, pillaging natural resources, recklessly
promoting real estate development and tourism, and building
mega-development infrastructure.
Charity is not enough: Many Pakistanis at home and abroad

have done much to support relief work on-ground. Many stories
of financial contributions by working-class individuals and
heroic acts of rescue abound. The spirit of giving that animates
many in our society is one of the few collective traits we can
acclaim.
But it is important to understand that the imperative of planetary

survival demands more than charity. The longer-term ecological
crises that Pakistan will face will be triggered by the lack of
water; large parts of our semi-arid country are experiencing
declining water tables while many of the plain areas of
Balochistan, Sindh and the Seraiki Wasaib currently inundated
may well be unlivable in a few decades due to rising
temperatures. While it is laudable to donate what we can when
times are bad, it is more important to come together to prioritise
preventive action as charity will not prevent environmental
collapse.
Progressives must unite: All of this is about politics. And things

will only change when a mass political consciousness evolves to
inform mass political struggle at home and abroad. It is
worthwhile noting that much of the quickest response to the
floods came from relatively marginal progressive organisations
and individuals who came together to both raise awareness of
the situation on the ground and mobilise relief goods and funds.
The question of ecology has brought together many progressives

around the world, and it is arguably the one single concern that
can force a meaningful political coalition to develop across
Pakistan’s unevenly developed and divided society. After all,
environmental linkages between all of Pakistan’s ethnic-nations
are not elective — they simply exist and there is a direct link
between so-called ‘development’ in any one region and its
ecological fallouts in another.
Beyond photo-ops, both our military overlords and mainstream

politicians in Pakistan are almost unconcerned with medium-
and long-term matters like climate change. Yes, events like the
current floods make clear that climate-change-related chaos is
also an urgent concern in the short term, but progressives will
only force this question into the mainstream by demonstrating
the same urgency and unity of purpose in building a meaningful
political alternative to the establishment-centric game of musical
chairs as they have in mobilising relief.

Religious prisons
dawn.com/news/1708007/religious-prisons
September 2, 2022
A JIRGA in northern Pakistan bans women from visiting tourist

spots. The Taliban regime in Afghanistan continues to deny
education to girls as well as freedom to work or go out without
male family members. The reasons they cite are that such
activities are not condoned by religion or culture.
These men are either ignorant or deliberately avoid

acknowledging the fact that religion says no such thing; quite the
contrary. The Quran says that blindly following traditions of
one’s forefathers places them in the group that does not think
(2:170; 5:104). As they establish themselves as wardens of
physical prisons for women, they imprison their own minds in
dungeons of religious righteousness. And throw away the keys.
Many Muslims today are inclined to mourn their fall from what
is considered Islam’s golden age between the seventh and 13th
centuries. This epic fall, they say, is largely due to turning away
from faith as in not visiting mosques, not fasting, ensuring a
specific physical appearance, and not reciting the Quran nor
visiting the Kaaba — as well as loosening the hold of men over
women.
Spiritually, religiously and intellectually, Muslims of yore were

superior to most other nations and had set up centres of learning
across the world. Over the centuries, however, internal strife,
poverty, lack of human development and political instability
created by self-serving rulers on the one hand and an inward-
looking society on the other led to decadence. This was catalysed
by colonisation by Western powers and then social, economic
and political interventions by the same countries.
Many Muslim men are trapped in dungeons of their own making.
Additionally, Muslims failed to establish at the individual and

collective level the ethical foundations of Quranic teachings; they
failed to recognise that understanding the Quran is an ongoing
process of initial contextualisation, clear articulation of Quranic
principles and the subsequent review of current socioeconomic
aspects followed by new laws or revision of existing ones to
better serve justice; they did not continue to invest in scientific
and rational thought and research, nor ensure reform of their
legal and juristic institutions, nor look to the future, nor accept
women as equal partners. Instead, they continued to dwell on
past glories.
They believed that all that was required of Quranic
interpretation had been carried out, that no further work was
necessary. As societies changed, they closed their minds to
questioning, refusing to adopt an ongoing process of evaluation.
The intellectual ‘freeze’ resulted in attention to form rather than
substance; lack of accountability to society, and a widespread
belief in the inferiority of women.As their minds remained
cocooned in their self-satisfied shell of ‘Muslimness’ defined by
religious rituals and past glory, the rest of the world made strides
in discovery and innovation, ready to change opinions if
necessary.
As discussed by Khaled Abu el Fadel in Reasoning with God,

although early Muslims developed a large body of analysis and
rules in the form of fiqh, derived from Quranic verses, the
Sunnah, hadith and personal opinions, and it still forms a basis
for guidance today, they also used it to control women and their
agency.
It would not be unfair to suggest that many Muslim societies are

still governed by tribalism and ethnic groupings that are
inherently patriarchal. Technology and new developments are
selectively accepted. Many men open bank accounts, use mobile
phones and watch TV. Yet women must only look after the
husband and his relatives, bear (many) children, cook and clean,
within four walls. This system continues even in large cities. It is
perpetuated by both women and men; the former brought up on
the commands of males and a diet of literal and often wrong
edicts, claimed as religious, a skewed understanding of hadith
and the mixing of history, cultural practices, traditions and
stories.
Consider the following: girls should not use mobiles as they
might communicate with their fiancés which is forbidden; if
married women refuse their husbands, they will be cursed by
angels; if men allow even one hair of their sisters to be seen by
other men, they will go to hell; women should not visit mosques
or graves, etc. Such beliefs are communicated widely and those
who don’t conform are rebuked. One can suggest that if today’s
religious beliefs and practices are analysed, many aspects would
be found to be dissimilar to the faith brought by the Prophet
(PBUH).
An attitude of questioning one’s beliefs and practices and

openness to diverse opinions must be developed to chisel away at
the rigid walls of these mental prisons of religious self-
righteousness. Outdated, harmful and unjust traditions, hidden
under the cloak of religion need to be exposed for what they are:
chains that prevent the full beauty of the Quran and the justice
system that Islam stands for from being realised.
The writer is an individual contributor with an interest in religion.
nikhat_sattar@yahoo.com

Right to mental health
dawn.com/news/1708008/right-to-mental-health
September 2, 2022
IN a promising move last week, the National Commission for

Human Rights (NCHR), in collaboration with Taskeen Health
initiative, UNFPA and British Asian Trust launched a thoughtful
Malpractice in Mental Health in Pakistan: A Call for Regulation
report. The drafting of the report was spurred by a complaint
registered at the commission regarding a 35-year-old woman
who had been forcefully detained in a private facility in the
federal capital for nine days. This was followed by a four-month
detailed investigation involving the Ministry of Health, District
Health Office, Inspector General Police and Islamabad Health
Regulatory Authority. It transpired that at the time of the
complaint, the private facility in question was not even
registered with IHRA (despite functioning since 2019); had no
full-time psychiatrist but still offered 20 beds for in-patient care;
and relied on a process of assessment and treatment termed
‘ethically murky’.
The report goes on to shine a light on ineffective extant

legislation, scarce and inequitable mental healthcare services,
and unregulated practices, each painstakingly documented with
horrifying verbatim examples. Although none of these findings
are really surprising, this is the first time that these have been
published by a statutory body which also has a watchdog and
advisory role to the government of Pakistan.
That a ‘right to health is a right to life’ is the strongest value that

underpins our Constitution was reiterated by Justice Syed
Mansoor Ali Shah at the report’s launch event. Justice Shah was
clear that the Constitution is not just for the able-bodied and
healthy; it is, in fact, even more so for the vulnerable and
disadvantaged. Quoting Articles 4 (law for the protection of every
citizen), 9 (right to life) and 14 (right to dignity), he added that
‘citizen’ includes a person with mental illness or mental disorder.
It is, therefore, a duty of the state to ensure dignified medical
protection and care based on best practices.
The primary right of a citizen with a mental disorder is to have

access to essential services. But existing mental healthcare in the
country remains limited to tertiary hospitals, most of which are
arranged in urban clusters. The integration of mental health into
primary healthcare, as recommended by the WHO, has yet to be
initiated in Pakistan. This should be the foremost obligation of
the state. The promotion of positive mental health, prevention of
risk factors such as drug use, gender-based violence, sexual and
physical violence towards children, early detection of mental
illness, suicide prevention strategies and psychosocial support in
humanitarian crises such as the present floods, all require a
robust community-based mental healthcare system.
The primary right of a citizen with a mental disorder is to have access to
essential services.
The NCHR’s report recommends that federal and provincial

mental health acts be updated to rights-based legislation and that
they be enforced as a priority. Since this legislation has not been
implemented for almost two decades, it is imperative that the
causes for this inertia be carefully examined. In short, it is
possible to identify 10 reasons for our collective failures on this
front.
1. Mental health legislation only provides a framework for

implementing the values and objectives of mental health
policies and plans. In the absence of the latter, it is highly
unlikely that the appropriate legislation can be implemented.
2. Mental health is not currently a health priority in Pakistan.

Also, effective legislative implementation requires a robust
multi-sectoral response, much beyond the capacity of our
existing ministries of health.
3. Extant provincial legislations all derive from the Mental

Health Ordinance 2001, the draft of which was based on the
UK’s Mental Health Act of 1983. Pakistan cannot compare
with the established systems and plentiful resources of
developed countries like the UK. Thus, setting up an effective
monitoring and regulatory system in a system of fragmented
healthcare is just not viable.
4. Our existing facilities are already exhausted. Unless services
are reconstructed and reconstituted, so that the burden of
common mental disorders is managed in primary care, these
are unlikely to have the capacity to take on further clinical
and logistic responsibilities.
5. The healthcare system faces serious governance issues,

including corruption. These conditions make it harder to
challenge the status quo.
6. Mental health is closely determined by a combination of

social, economic and environmental factors. It would be
incorrect to think that legislation can in and of itself help
protect mental health without addressing the larger context
of these challenges.
7. Since hardly even a single goal has been achieved as a result

of existing legislation, it is perhaps time to realign
expectations and draw out a more realistic legislation which
can be implemented in phases.
8. Mental health legislations are primarily standards for the

protection and promotion of the rights of persons with
mental health conditions. There is no point regulating
services in the absence of progressive curricula, good
practice guidelines and scientific protocols.
9. The process of accountability begins when service users are

empowered to question, are made aware of recommended
practice guidelines and have the liberty to choose their
psychiatrists. This will only happen when alternative
scientific and ethic models of care are made available.
10. Any effective implementation of mental health legislation
requires the support of other agencies outside health, such as
law enforcement, social services, and rehabilitation services.
Unfortunately, these support structures are also not reliable.
In light of these arguments, it is important to focus on developing

quality care and effective services based on internationally
recognised standards. In this regard, the Mental Health and
Psychosocial Support model developed by the Ministry of
Planning, Development and Special Initiatives in 2021 deserves
immediate attention considering that one in seven Pakistanis has
been adversely affected by the recent floods. The path-breaking
but sadly delayed project developed over the course of the
pandemic offers a comprehensive multilayered, rights- and
evidence-based model. It does not require unrealistic resources.
It is also scalable. It can help address many of the concerns
highlighted and would be a step in the right direction towards
the protection of the basic rights of a highly vulnerable
population.
The writer is a consultant psychiatrist and was part of drafting the

Mental Health Ordinance 2001.
Twitter: AsmaHumayun

Aid for pregnant women
dawn.com/news/1707846/aid-for-pregnant-women
September 1, 2022
IT is a serious matter: the due date for approximately 73,000 of

the over half a million pregnant women affected by the floods is
this month, while around 577,000 others are set to give birth
later. With access to medical facilities and personnel, including
birth attendants, cut off at many places, it is uncertain how they
and their families will cope at the time of delivery and after.
Even under normal circumstances, access to healthcare for
women, including those who are expecting, remains a big
challenge in Pakistan. The statistics speak for themselves. The
maternal mortality rate, according to the United Nations
Population Fund, is 186 deaths per 100,000 live births — it may
be an improvement over past years, but it is still higher than the
statistics for many other developing countries. In normal
circumstances, pregnant women have to bear with untrained
midwives or rickety medical facilities at decrepit government
hospitals where professional healthcare is near absent and
wrong advice is often dispensed. The trauma of pregnant women
in times of disaster then can only be imagined. It is a living
nightmare for them — mentally and physically. Many of them are
doubly at risk of contracting water-borne infections and being
further malnourished with access to food limited at best. Those
with complicated pregnancies face even greater hazards.
Besides the danger to the women themselves, there are also

concerns for the health of the newborn infant. Babies born in
these appalling circumstances will show the effects of poor
nutrition and may contract birth-related infections. There is an
urgent need for the authorities to take note of the looming threat
and provide medical and nutritional assistance to pregnant
women who have been affected by the floods. A comprehensive
and well-managed plan must be drawn up quickly to render all
possible assistance to this vulnerable segment. Given the
experience of recent years, it is clear that climate change has
come to stay and coping mechanisms for victims of natural
calamities, especially women and children, must be put in place.
Opinion
Twitter tattle - Newspaper - DAWN.COM
dawn.com/news/1707847/twitter-tattle
September 1, 2022
TWITTER, the social media platform loved and used by

journalists, dissidents and activists worldwide, may in fact be
quite unsafe for them if recent revelations made by the
company’s former security chief Peiter Zatko are to be believed.
One allegation in particular has prompted considerable concern
in the Pakistani security establishment: the Indian government
apparently infiltrated Twitter’s security system through an
operative. Mr Zatko believes this agent very likely accessed
sensitive user data because of Twitter’s weak security
infrastructure, which is reportedly plagued by obsolete servers
and vulnerable software. Mr Zatko also claimed that Twitter’s
executive team knew “that the Indian government had
succeeded in placing agents on the company payroll”, but never
informed users. According to another company source, it is
widely believed that the Indian government had previously also
interfered or attempted to interfere in Twitter’s internal
workings.
Indian attempts at espionage using Twitter’s systems have far

more serious implications if viewed as a whole with the other
revelations made by Mr Zatko. According to the former hacker,
Twitter’s internal controls are allegedly so weak that sensitive
information can easily be accessed by rogue elements working
for other countries. In fact, just earlier this month, a former
manager employed by Twitter, Ahmad Abuammo, was convicted
by a US court on six criminal counts for spying for Saudi Arabia,
including acting as an agent for the country and trying to
disguise a payment from an official with links to Saudi Arabia’s
royal family. These developments paint a startling picture for
those who frequently use the platform for communication and
information. Clearly, anyone who can be targeted for expressing
views that run contrary to powerful interests should be wary.
Twitter collects quite a lot of personal information from people
who have accounts on the microblogging platform, and this
information can easily be misused if it falls in the wrong hands.
When viewed in hindsight, attempts to infiltrate social media
companies, the recent blockage of Twitter handles operated by
Pakistani diplomatic missions, the systematic erasure from social
media of critical voices from occupied Kashmir as well as an
ongoing disinformation campaign functioning on the back of
social media and aimed at discrediting Pakistan present a sinister
picture of how Indian authorities intend to misuse social media
for their ends. Twitter has a responsibility to satisfy Pakistani
authorities and demonstrate that it remains committed to the
safety of the people who use its service.
Opinion
Restricting INGOs
dawn.com/news/1707848/restricting-ingos
September 1, 2022
CONSIDERING the magnitude of the disaster that has struck

Pakistan, relief and rehabilitation efforts need to be carried out
on a massive scale to bring back a semblance of normalcy to the
lives of millions of flood-hit people. To put it bluntly, this country
needs all the help it can get at this difficult time. Yet obstacles are
being placed in the way of international NGOs by the state. This
will only hamper relief work, and prevent much-needed help
from getting to the vulnerable. In this regard the Pakistan
Humanitarian Forum, an umbrella group of 38 registered INGOs
working in Pakistan, has said that the government is not giving
permission to many foreign outfits already active in the country.
Considering that the state itself has appealed to the international
community to do its bit in the flood-relief effort, creating
roadblocks for INGOs is both self-contradictory and
counterproductive.
In past disasters, such as the 2005 earthquake and the 2010 super
floods, foreign relief organisations did a commendable job in
helping Pakistan cope with the natural calamities. Perhaps the
hesitancy in granting INGOs the freedom to work stems from the
mindset of the security state, which has an obsession with
control and centralisation. Possibly some within the
establishment are uncomfortable with INGOs working in
troubled parts of Balochistan and KP. While certain areas of the
country may indeed present valid security concerns, it is the
state’s responsibility to provide protection to foreign outfits
working in the humanitarian sector. The INGOs want temporary
exemption from obtaining no-objection certificates as well as a
smoother registration process. These legitimate demands should
be met. If the administration thinks some outfits — foreign or
local — are involved in illegal work, by all means it should deal
with them as per the law, but it should not create bureaucratic
impediments in the way of groups doing good work.
Massive amounts of funds and expertise are required to deal

with the rehabilitation and reconstruction phase in the flood-hit
areas. Pakistan, which is going through financial turbulence,
lacks the resources to deal with the disaster on its own. Credible
INGOs, on the other hand, have global networks and access to
funds that will be crucial in the rebuilding phase. Moreover,
many foreign governments and multilateral bodies prefer
channelling funds through trusted INGOs for purposes of
transparency. Therefore, for the government to place hurdles in
their way is unwise. Rebuilding after the disaster requires the
input of all stakeholders: the aforementioned funds and
expertise of INGOs are invaluable; local community-based
organisations are also key to the process because they are best
informed about the situation on the ground and have strong local
networks, whereas the state should play the role of coordinator
and facilitator. Blanket bans on foreign humanitarian outfits
must be done away with, and all those willing to help Pakistan
should be welcomed.

Opinion
Geopolitical chessboard
dawn.com/news/1707849/geopolitical-chessboard
September 1, 2022
MOMENTOUS developments spearheaded by China’s dramatic

rise, growing Sino-US rivalry, an assertive Russia, and the
emergence of new centres of power in Asia, Africa and Latin
America are reshaping the global geopolitical chessboard. These
developments portend the advent of a multipolar world in place
of the bipolar world marked by US-USSR rivalry during the Cold
War and the relatively brief period of US unipolarity after the
disintegration of the Soviet Union.
It is evident that as China and other emerging economies in Asia

catch up with the Western world in terms of economic and
technological strength and military power, the centre of gravity
of global geopolitics will shift to Asia. The next two to three
decades would witness this transition. A study by
PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2017 forecast that by 2050 China at a
predicted $49,853 billion will account for 20 per cent of the world
GDP. Both China and India ($28,021bn) will be the first and the
third largest economies in the world with the US relegated to
second position. Out of the 32 largest economies in the world, it is
predicted that 12 will be from Asia with a cumulative GDP
accounting for 44pc of the world GDP. The share of the GDP of the
US and EU in world GDP will be reduced.
With the increase in economic strength, Asian countries’ military

power is also likely to witness rapid growth. It is expected, for
instance, that China’s military expenditure would exceed that of
the US by 2035, posing a serious challenge to American
supremacy in both the economic and military spheres. Other
countries such as India are likely to follow suit, thus fuelling
regional disputes. It follows therefore that the Indo-Pacific region
will be the main arena for competition for global supremacy and
regional hegemony, leading to growing tensions and localised
conflicts in the area, especially in the East China and South China
Seas.
The convergence of the interests of the US and India in

containing the expansion of China’s power and influence will
strengthen their strategic partnership pushing Pakistan closer to
China to maintain a strategic balance in South Asia. One can
therefore anticipate growing tensions between China and India,
on the one hand, and between India and Pakistan, on the other.
US-China rivalry will also lead to growing competition between
the two countries for influence in Africa and Latin America.
Policymakers here often misread the foreign landscape.
As the Ukraine conflict shows, an assertive Russia will flex its

muscles in the years to come to block Nato’s eastward expansion
and to strengthen its security in its near abroad, especially the
Caucasus. Growing tensions between the West and Russia have
already strengthened strategic cooperation between Moscow and
Beijing and the process is likely to continue in the foreseeable
future.
Geopolitics is a brutal game played by nations for power and

influence in pursuit of their perceived national interests. This
power play is cloaked in moral and legal arguments wherever
possible to make it palatable to domestic and foreign audiences.
In the modern world, economic strength and scientific and
technological advancement are the most important ingredients
of national power and provide the base for the development of
military power.
Unfortunately, Pakistan’s policymakers have often
misunderstood the play of geopolitical forces at the global and
regional levels and ignored the dictates of realpolitik to the
detriment of national security and economic interests. We have
overemphasised the military dimension of security at the
expense of the economic one instead of pursuing a
comprehensive approach to national security with due emphasis
on its political, economic, military and diplomatic aspects.
The pursuit of overly ambitious foreign policy goals and the

preponderant role of the security establishment in our polity
have impoverished us economically, endangered our national
security, and led us to the present stage of strategic exhaustion
marked by slow economic growth, widespread poverty, political
instability, and overdependence on foreign doles for economic
survival. Our India and Kashmir policies, in particular, lack
realism and suffer from strategic confusion.
It is imperative that we anchor our foreign and security policies

in sound strategic realities at the global and regional levels.
Further, we need to reorient our external policies gradually
towards Asian countries in view of their growing importance.
Above all, we must build up our national power, especially
economic and technological strength, instead of relying on
foreign crutches or merely on legal and moral arguments.
The writer is a retired ambassador and author of Pakistan and a

World in Disorder — A Grand Strategy for the Twenty-First
Century.
javid.husain@gmail.com

National priorities
dawn.com/news/1707850/national-priorities
September 1, 2022
THOSE who survived the 1970s will recall an image of PM

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto standing on the rim of Tarbela Dam, watching
its dangerous surplus cannonade into the outfall below. Guided
by Wapda officials, he warned the nation that, as tremors had
been detected in the hills on either side of the dam, there was a
real possibility that it would collapse.
Citizens everywhere south were warned that, should this occur,

the momentum of water would be unstoppable. By the time it
reached Karachi over 1,000 miles downstream, it would be three
storeys high. Tarbela held its ground, and a disaster of
incalculable magnitude was averted.
That should have been lesson enough for every generation of
Pakistanis. However, successive governments have chosen to
regard monsoons and ensuing floods as a phenomenon, not a
predictable recurrence against which precautions could, and
should be, made.
Disaster management at the national level has been the

responsibility, only since December 2010, of the NDMA. Since its
inception, it has been headed by eight generals. Its handles the
“whole spectrum of DM activities in the paradigm of PR3
(Preparedness, Response, Recovery and Rehabilitation)”. Its
National Monsoon Contingency Plan-2022 is such a
comprehensive document that it should have been made
mandatory reading together by every wing of the federal and
provincial governments, for it assumes coordinated cooperation
by every tentacle of governance. “In the event of a disaster, all
stakeholders including Government Ministries/ Departments/
Organisations, Armed Forces, INGOs, NGOs, UN Agencies work
through and form part of the NDMA to conduct one window
operations.”
We should expect to hear a groan of donor fatigue.
The NDMA’S Monsoon Contingency Plan (MCP) for 2022, (issued

in May), forecast “(a) Overall, a tendency for Normal to Above
Normal precipitation is expected in the country; (b) Above
normal rainfall is expected during July and August especially
over Northern Punjab, AJ&K and the adjoining areas of KP; (c)
During September, the lower half, mostly the coastal areas of
Sindh and Balochistan may receive slightly above normal
rainfall; (d) Below normal rainfall is expected in GB and
Northern KP.” It added that the “Average normal rainfall of
Pakistan during Jul – Sep is 140.8 mm”.
The MCP presented five scenarios – ranging from scenario-1
(most likely) — normal to above normal to normal to scenario- 4
(less probable) — erratic monsoon. The fifth — (most dangerous)
abnormal monsoon — was a doomsday scenario. It would arise
from the collision of two systems coming from west and east,
repeating the super floods of 2010. It warned of “Extraordinary
flood conditions triggered by some extreme events, High water
levels in major water reservoirs, Flash floods, Riverine Floods,
Urban flooding, landslides, and avalanches”.
For over 30 million of our citizens, doomsday has descended. TV

channels replay images of multistorey hotels subsiding and
embankments crumbling into surging turbulence. Vast tracts of
arable land stand inundated, crops wasted, livestock drowned,
livelihoods destroyed. While every sinew of governance — civil,
military, administrative and political — has been mobilised to
provide relief and succor to the affectees, appeals have been
made at home and to the diaspora abroad for donations.
We should expect to hear a groan of donor fatigue. They have

heard it all before – since 1970, when East Pakistan was flooded
following a cyclone.
At our age, we should be expected to manage our own finances,

and not rely upon handouts from rich friends. The Saudis, UAE
and the Chinese have just finished rolling over billions of dollars
they have placed on returnable deposit with the State Bank. The
IMF has approved release of the first tranche of $1.17 bn. Yet,
here we are, Oliver Twist again, begging for more.
Will we ever be able to manage our economy properly? Or is the

declaration of assets by politicians at election time the only
barometer of our real wealth?
We are insolvent as a nation. The next step is bankruptcy which
in international jargon is known as a default. Ironically, we are
on safer ground there. International creditors prefer to see
debtor nations swim (albeit with a constricting lifebelt around
their necks) rather than drown. Greece is a recent example.
During this calamity, one had hoped that all our political parties
would have suspended their bickering and come together in a
show of simulated unity. Apparently not. They have separate,
irreconcilable priorities.
In the 1970s, Iranian PM Amir-Abbas Hoveyda visited Islamabad.

Walking through the Civil Secretariat, he was asked by his hosts
to admire the roses then in bloom. He halted momentarily, and
muttered: “Nice. But it is all a matter of priorities.”
If the priority amongst our politicians is the treatment of a

spectacled political loudmouth or a case registered against a
voluble populist leader, we will never have time to achieve
anything beyond bemoaning yesterday.
www.fsaijazuddin.pk

A pyrrhic victory - Newspaper
dawn.com/news/1707851/a-pyrrhic-victory
September 1, 2022
CELEBRATING an IMF deal is a contradiction in terms. Such

agreements might temporarily rescue governments and their
economies, but these are always anti-people with deep and
deleterious long-term consequences. The announcement made
by the IMF to revive Pakistan’s programme this week, which
perhaps the government of Pakistan chose not to read carefully
beyond the headline as it highlighted numerous uncomfortable
truths, already projects a pre-floods inflation rate of 20 per cent.
On top of this, the IMF insists that the governments need to
increase electricity prices and taxes on petroleum products even
further, as well as keeping interest rates high. What exactly are
we celebrating?
Countries generally on the brink of economic collapse are the
ones which go to the IMF seeking a loan, usually when it is
already too late, and an economic disaster is well upon them —
Sri Lanka is a good recent example. Some countries are prescient
and have the foresight to approach the IMF well before they are
on the verge of economic turmoil, and Bangladesh is an example
of one such country which was doing much better than most of
its peers, but the global slowdown forced it to turn to the IMF.
While discussions will commence soon, the IMF recognises that
Bangladesh is nowhere in a crisis situation. And then, there is
Pakistan, truly a veteran of generous IMF benevolence.
The revival of Pakistan’s agreement with the IMF had been

expected for at least the last month, when it was clear that the
finance ministry and the lender had agreed to strict terms which
Pakistan would adhere to. The joint statement between the State
Bank of Pakistan and the Ministry of Finance made public on Aug
1 made it clear that all the preconditions had been met and all
the government of Pakistan had to do was to wait till the IMF
board met at the end of August.
Two quite dramatic events, even by Pakistani standards, gained

much traction in the period since the joint statement. The first
was the much-publicised story of army chief Gen Bajwa
contacting the US government to ask for its help to push for the
IMF loan, and that too, ‘at the earliest’. If this conversation
happened, it was quite irrelevant since the agreement between
the government of Pakistan and the IMF was already well in
place and even the request from the COAS had little value to add
at this late stage.
The revival of the IMF deal gives the government some breathing space but it
also allows the old complacency to return.
The second, even more startling revelation, was based on the
audio recording of former federal finance minister Mr Shaukat
Tarin in conversation with the two current finance ministers of
Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, trying their best to sabotage
the IMF deal by allegedly writing to the IMF saying that the
agreement could not be met due to provincial financial
constraints faced especially by KP on account of the damage
caused by the floods. While many observers have suggested that
this was a treasonable offence, which at one level it well might
be, the truth is that it did not have much consequence just three
days prior to the IMF board meeting. The agreement was already
a done deal and all that was needed was the board’s ratification.
Moreover, the IMF negotiates only with federal governments,
and no matter how irritating provincial governments can be,
they can only attempt to draw some political capital, which in
this case clearly backfired.
The agreement which has been reached is not a new one, and is
the revival, with additional, stricter, conditionalities, after many
stop-start moments, of the one agreed to in July 2019. The
celebrations one sees around us, especially by the ruling elite, of
receiving a mere $1.1 billion, are a sign of how low our
expectations and standards have fallen. While there was a small
possibility of a default, mostly on account of our own collective
doing, the revival of the programme allows us only very short-
lived breathing space. The deep-rooted, chronic, structural
problems which affect the economy, have barely been
articulated, let alone addressed.
The revival of the agreement does give the government some

breathing space now that their anxieties are lifted and they can
return to status quo ante, but it also allows for the old, persistent
complacency to return. All adjustments and actions taken in the
last four months by the incumbent government were to ensure
that they secured the loan. Now that they have, they have the
opportunity to sit on their false laurels and can easily avoid
taking measures which are even more unpopular than the ones
they have already taken.
Before we forget, these are loans which need to be paid back, not
grants or aid without strings attached, not that aid ever comes
free of favours in return. Yet, the conditions imposed to get an
IMF loan, the preconditions as they are called, end up raising
taxes (usually regressive ones, such as indirect taxes), cutting
expenditure (always development, never defence), increasing
tariffs on consumers for utilities and other essentials, and are
meant to slow down aggregate demand and the economy.
Having signed 22 agreements with the IMF, Pakistan’s numerous

governments, even at the best of times, have little to show for
what they have achieved. Even strong and supposedly stable
military governments have depended on the IMF and apart from
a slight, short improvement in economic numbers, have made
little progress, with the burden — of debt, inflation, slowdown —
always passed on to the people, not the elite. With severe political
uncertainty caused by a belligerent opposition leader, it is clear
that there is going to be much political and economic
disequilibrium for many months to come. With the damage
caused by the floods to the economy estimated to be 10 times the
amount received from the IMF, this latest rescue package is not
going to rescue the people of Pakistan.
The writer is a political economist and heads the IBA, Karachi. The
views are his own and do not represent those of the institution.
Healthcare during floods
dawn.com/news/1707852/healthcare-during-floods
September 1, 2022
PAKISTAN has been hit by unprecedented deadly floods. These

are flash floods to be exact, which are caused by rapid and
excessive rainfall that raises water heights quickly, overtaking
rivers, streams, channels and roads. Due to climate change,
Pakistan has experienced excessive rains this monsoon season,
2.87 times higher than the national average of the last 30 years,
with some areas in Sindh and Balochistan receiving more than
five times the average rainfall.
Floods are the most frequently occurring natural disaster.

Globally, 80 to 90 per cent of all natural disasters in the last 10
years have comprised flash floods, river floods or coastal floods.
The waters sweep away everything in their path. Ill-planned
infrastructure quickly collapses, causing loss of human and
animal life. The international experience with floods shows that
75pc of deaths during the floods take place due to drowning.
People suffer during floods in many different ways. All of a

sudden, they are washed away with their belongings and in most
cases lose their livelihoods. They are uprooted from their homes
and communities, they get separated from their loved ones and
there is no longer any social support. As a result, they undergo
extreme mental stress and, in many cases, suffer physically.
Healthcare is an integral component of any flood emergency

response. However, well-meaning but inappropriate or unrelated
medical aid and donations may do more harm than good. So, in
order to plan an appropriate medical response, it first needs to
be understood what most frequently afflicts people during floods.
Well-meaning but unrelated medical aid and donations may do more harm
than good.
It is useful to think in terms of five groups of medical and

healthcare problems during floods and the corresponding
healthcare provision. The first group of problems are of an acute
nature and require immediate medical response. These include
injuries which are caused by floodwater and the people’s struggle
to save themselves from drowning, hypothermia due to being
submerged in water for a prolonged period, injuries due to the
collapse of buildings and infrastructure, and snakebites.
The second group of problems follows the first one in the form of
the spread of waterborne diseases including but not limited to
diarrhoea, especially among children, cholera, typhoid and
hepatitis E. Malaria and dengue, though mosquito-borne diseases
also spread during these times due to stagnant water pools which
serve as breeding sites for mosquitoes. The provision of safe
drinking water and food are critical not only for hydration and
nutritional purposes but also to prevent the spread of
waterborne diseases. Along with that, the promotion of
handwashing, sanitation and other infection prevention and
control measures need to be promoted.
With a growing number of environmental samples already

testing positive for the poliovirus, and increasing polio cases,
there is a need to carry out special polio vaccination campaigns
in the flood-affected areas as and when possible. Poliovirus can
contaminate food and water in unsanitary conditions. Likewise,
cholera vaccination should be considered to control likely
cholera outbreaks. Measles outbreaks must also be anticipated in
camps. Covid-19 vaccination should also be considered for people
living in these areas.
The third set of problems comprise those which people were

already suffering from but whose treatment was disrupted due
to the flood emergency. Here, an understanding of the
proportionate burden of diseases (BoD) in Pakistan would be
helpful. More than 50pc of BoD in Pakistan is now due to non-
communicable diseases. These are chronic conditions usually
requiring lifelong treatment. Diabetes especially needs to be
mentioned. Insulin and other antidiabetic medicines are a
lifeline for patients with diabetes. Likewise, patients with blood
pressure, chronic respiratory problems, etc require their
medication to be continued.
The fourth group includes mental health issues. The stress of loss
causes anxiety and depression. Mental health support to the
flood-affected must be planned as a part of medical aid and it
should not be relegated to non-essential care or as an
afterthought. Trained mental health professionals should be part
of the medical team.
Fifth are vulnerable groups and their special needs. Pregnant

women, young children, old women and men, disabled people —
all require special and prioritised attention to their condition and
needs in times of emergencies.
Planning healthcare for flood victims hence requires not only

medical (curative) services but also preventive, promotive and
rehabilitative health services. These five groups of problems can
guide us in the selection of medicines and other medical supplies
and the composition of healthcare teams.
Time and again it has been witnessed that indiscriminate

medicine donations by families and companies during
emergencies actually cause huge problems in terms of their
disposal. This must be avoided.
The WHO has invested in developing and supplying a number of

standard emergency health kits and has improved these kits over
the years, learning from emergency experiences around the
world. Of special relevance to the floods are their Interagency
Emergency Health Kit which is good to serve the medical needs
of 10,000 people for three months. Another one is the Cholera Kit-
2020 which can serve the needs of 100 patients. All those
interested in providing medical support can get a lot of guidance
from the WHO kits. Much of this information is available on the
WHO website.
The weak primary healthcare system in the country

superimposed by the flood disaster requires the strengthening of
the health system capacity in the affected and adjacent areas.
BHUs, RHCs, THQs and DHQs must be strengthened to whatever
capacity is possible. At the same time, especially organised
medical camps and field hospitals need to be set up. China and
Cuba have vast experience in setting up and managing field
hospitals during emergencies around the world as we witnessed
during the 2005 earthquake and 2010 floods in Pakistan.
Well-coordinated disaster management to rescue people from the

flood-hit areas and then providing them relief and support in
resettling is what is expected from the government. The quality
of disaster management, however, is directly proportional to
what preparation and readiness there is to respond when there
is no emergency.
The writer is a former SAPM on health, professor of health systems

at Shifa Tameer-i-Millat University and WHO adviser on UHC.
zedefar@gmail.com

Dawn Monthly Editorials and Opinions Sep 2022 DM Whatsapp Group

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Dawn Monthly Editorials and Opinions Sep 2022 DM Whatsapp Group

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Another targeted attack

September 30, 2022

WEDNESDAY’S deadly attack on three Chinese-origin individuals

Previous attacks by terrorist groups have usually targeted

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2022

The sun shines upon the House of Sharif

Abdul Moiz Jaferii

September 30, 2022

ON Wednesday, the country’s new finance minister, Ishaq Dar,

The truth is that Mr Dar has come back to a Pakistan different to

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2022

The sun shines upon the House of Sharif

Abdul Moiz Jaferii

September 30, 2022

THE legal firewalls erected between the PML-N’s Nawaz camp

Whether or not the ‘relief’ granted to Ms Nawaz and Mr Dar has

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2022

The sun shines upon the House of Sharif

Abdul Moiz Jaferii

September 30, 2022

Pakistani generals, politicians, judges and business moguls have

The British philosopher Jeremy Bentham prophesied a

Acute political polarisation has distracted us from the profound

While social media certainly features the most prominent

In any case it is worth being reminded that dissident thinkers

None of these developments are figments of the imagination.

Yet even as leaks and exposés continue, platform capitalism as

Needless to say, these billionaires will not go out of their way to

It is all well and good to take on the task of speaking truth to

In fact, there is an urgent need for our young population to be far

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

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2022

September 30, 2022

SOCIAL cohesion has been a real concern in many parts of

The purpose of religious education, as Andrew Wright suggests

In a religiously diverse society, a dogmatic approach to religious

In Pakistan, curricular and pedagogical methods tend to present

In addition to the exclusive curricula, most religious educators,

So, sectarianised religious education develops, according to Tariq

In order to promote religious literacy and harmony, a cultural

For example, it highlights the fundamental beliefs that all Muslim

In addition, a cultural studies ap­­proach tries to portray Islam as a

Indeed, promoting religious literacy is one of the effective ways

The writer is a professionally trained religious educator based in

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2022

September 30, 2022

CRITICALLY important national institutions always need persons

India is arguably the most challenging assignment for a Pakistani

Despite these “scarlet threads” of the India-Pakistan relationship,

Regarding policy towards Afghanistan, Doc H noted that the

Doc H was surrounded by the love of a wonderful wife, three

There is talk today of the need for ‘technocrats’ to take over

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2022

September 30, 2022

WE want every child in Pakistan to have access to quality

Some 20 million-odd children between five and 16 years are out

Covid made matters a lot worse: learning poverty increased,

It is not that other countries have fared similarly. Not at all.

This is where the rethinking needs to come in now. Parents, civil

This is a hard question to resolve. And it is hard to get the

If we say, let us focus only on foundational and/or functional

The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of

September 29, 2022

CONSIDERING that the Afghan Taliban have been in the saddle

In addition, a cultural studies approach tries to portray Islam as a