ISLAMABAD: As scattered groups of protesters began to trickle into the outskirts of the capital on Monday night, the government and PTI apparently opened a ‘back-channel’ for the sake of negotiations.
In a late-night presser, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi seemed to confirm talks with the protesting party, saying that the government had offered Sangjani, on the outskirts of Islamabad, as a venue for their protest.
PTI leaders met Imran Khan for a second time late on Monday night at a specially arranged meeting, where they reportedly laid the government’s proposals before the incarcerated party founder.
The outcome of the meeting was not immediately clear, as the PTI delegation left without speaking to the media.
However, Mr Naqvi said that they were waiting for a response from the party and asked journalists, who were insistent on getting an answer, to wait for an outcome.
Earlier in the day, sources claimed that PTI and government leaders had held talks, ostensibly to finalise a venue where PTI supporters could be allowed to stage a demonstration in Islamabad without affecting the peace.
While both sides didn’t categorically confirm the talks, Interior Minister Naqvi hinted that the government was awaiting a response from the PTI.
Later, in his last press interaction of the day, he said: “As per my information, they have got permission from there [Mr Khan] as well,” adding that a formal response from PTI was still awaited.
Earlier on Monday, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan held his first meeting with Mr Khan in prison, after which he told the media the PTI founder had refused to withdraw the protest call.
Late night media reports suggested that PTI leaders were trying to prevail upon Bushra Bibi, who is leading the main caravan of protesters coming from KP to Islamabad, to accept the proposal to change the protest venue.
‘Extreme steps’
In his remarks, Mr Naqvi wanted protesters not to expect any leniency from the government.
He said the government would deal with violent protesters with an iron hand, adding that he wouldn’t hesitate to impose a curfew or invoke Article 245, which empowered the government to call armed forces for security purposes.
Mr Naqvi was also said to be part of the negotiation team — including National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, Ameer Muqam and Rana Sanaullah — which reportedly met with a PTI team, comprising Barrister Gohar Asad Qaisar and Shibli Faraz at the Ministers’ Enclave, sources claimed.
However, Mr Naqvi told reporters that he had not held any meetings at the stated venue.
One of the main talking points between both sides, as per sources, was to delay the arrival of protesters till after the conclusion of the Belarus president’s visit.
Even though all signs pointed to back channels being opened, PTI leader Raoof Hasan categorically denied reports that their party was holding talks with the government.
Mr Hasan told Dawn on Monday night that their protesters had “reached the doorstep of Islamabad” and that the PTI would decide when to enter the capital on Tuesday morning.
PM slams PTI
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other government leaders criticised PTI’s protest and held the party responsible for the death of a police constable.
In a statement on Monday, PM Shehbaz condemned the death of Constable Mubashir and ordered the immediate arrest of those responsible for it.
He held the protesters responsible for the incident and said the entire nation, including him, paid tribute to the martyred constable.
The prime minister expressed his condolences to the bereaved family, the PM Office media wing said in a press release.
He also directed to provide the best medical facilities to police personnel injured in clashes with the protestors.
He said the perpetrators involved in the May 9 riots were “once again resorting to violent acts”.
The “attack on police personnel” in the name of a so-called peaceful protest was condemnable, the PM said, adding the cops and law enforcement personnel were doing their duty of maintaining law and order.
Whenever the country moved on the path of progress, “these miscreants resorted to acts of burning and laying siege throughout the country”.
Earlier, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar called out PTI for once again pursuing the politics of “chaos and anarchy”.
Talking to the media at the Nur Khan Airbase, the minister said people wanted politics of progress and welfare, “which is manifested by the people-friendly initiatives” of the government.
He said the protest is taking place when the economy is “taking off” and the country is “attracting foreign investment”.
US urges restraint
Meanwhile, the United States appealed for restraint from Pakistani authorities and thousands of protesters marching on the capital to call for the release of jailed ex-prime minister Imran Khan.
“We call on protesters to demonstrate peacefully and refrain from violence and, at the same time, we call on Pakistani authorities to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms and to ensure respect for Pakistan’s laws and constitution as they work to maintain law and order,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters at a press briefing on Monday.
Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2024
TAXILA / ISLAMABAD: A policeman, injured in clashes with protesters at Jandial checkpoint near Taxila, died on Monday as PTI supporters continued to overcome roadblocks and barricades on main highways, to continue advancing towards the capital.
Separately, police registered cases against Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi, Dr Arif Alvi, KP CM Ali Amin Gandapur, Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan and hundreds of senior PTI lawmakers, leaders and workers across Punjab over violent protests on Nov 24.
The FIRs were registered under different sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), as well as the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).
Constable Muhammad Mubashir, 46, who had travelled from Muzaffargarh to assist the Rawalpindi police, sustained critical injuries during clashes with protesters and was shifted to the DHQ Rawalpindi, where he succumbed to injuries.
His funeral was later held at the Rawalpindi Police Lines, before his body was sent to his native town for burial.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who visited the injured officers at the hospital, extended condolences to Mubashir’s family, honouring his sacrifice.
“The government stands by his family in this time of grief, and all perpetrators will face legal consequences.”
In a late-night presser, Mr Naqvi revealed that a Rangers official had also sustained a bullet injury, warning protesters that they would not tolerate attacks any further on law enforcement personnel.
He also said that it was easy for the government to prevent marchers from advancing if they used force, but added that they were showing restraint because the government did not want to give the PTI more fuel for their agitation in the form of dead bodies.
Protesters reach Islamabad outskirts
Meanwhile, a pitched battle erupted at Chungi No 26 — on the outskirts of the capital — on Monday night between police and PTI protesters after an advance team of the party’s caravan reached the area.
Following the PTI caravan’s passage through Hakla, additional police and paramilitary forces were called in to reinforce security at both Chungi No 26 and Nicholson Monument near Taxila.
An advance party of over 500 PTI protesters arrived at Chungi No 26 after 8pm, leading to a massive confrontation with law enforcement personnel. The police used rubber bullets and tear gas, while the protesters retaliated by throwing stones and chanting slogans.
At the time of going to press, scattered clashes were reported from various areas on the outskirts of Islamabad. Footage shared on social media platforms also showed KP CM Ali Amin Gandapur’s vehicle, surrounded by marchers, present at Chungi No 26.
‘Fight for Imran’s release to go on’
Addressing charged PTI supporters and workers from atop a container at Burhan Interchange in Taxila, Bushra Bibi vowed to continue her fight for Imran Khan’s release until her “last breath”, urging the crowd to remain united in their efforts.
“Until Imran Khan is with us, we will not end this protest. I will remain here until my last breath, and I ask all of you to stand by us,” she declared, rallying the supporters. “This isn’t just about my husband, it’s about the future of our country and the leadership we deserve.”
Bushra Bibi praised the bravery and resilience of the Pashtun community, calling them “a proud and honourable nation” and expressing confidence in their steadfastness in the fight for justice. “I know the Pashtun people will stand by us till the end,” she said. “They will not abandon this cause in the face of adversity.”
Clashes on M-1
In Attock, which saw some of the heaviest clashes between protesters and law enforcers on Monday, police claimed that 80 personnel, including a sub inspector, were injured.
Two others were critically wounded due to alleged firing by PTI workers marching towards Islamabad on the Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway (M-1), a police spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said that protesters threw stones, assaulted officers and fired directly at police present at Katti Pahari — located between the Burhan and Hakla interchanges on M-1 — resulting in injuries to around 80 personnel.
Constable Wajid, on special duty from Faisalabad, sustained a gunshot wound to the neck and remains in critical condition. Similarly, Constable Samiullah from Sargodha is also in serious condition after suffering a bullet injury.
Meanwhile, PTI workers also clashed with Punjab policemen at Pathargarh, off the M-1 near Hasanabdal. Despite heavy tear gas shelling, they managed to remove the shipping containers placed in their path, forcing police contingents to retreat and seek shelter.
The charged protesters also seized a prisoner van, using it to transport their supporters from one barricade to another near Burhan, before setting it ablaze. They also painted anti-government slogans on the vehicle.
Arrests, cases registered
Law-enforcement agencies (LEAs) continued their crackdown on PTI activists for the third consecutive day on Monday in several districts, including Bahawalpur, Multan, Vehari and Lodhran in south Punjab.
In Gujrat, police have booked at least 600 people, including former PTI lawmakers and officials, in at least three different cases for taking out rallies, blocking roads, creating terror, and other charges.
Meanwhile, the blockades on bridges over the Chenab and Jhelum rivers, as well as at the Sara-i-Alamgir city bridge over the Upper Jhelum Canal (UJC) along the GT Road, and all the roads connecting to the GT Road, continued for the fourth consecutive day on Monday.
At least 120 people were arrested in raids carried out in Vehari.
In Faisalabad, police arrested five people and booked around 260 in various cases, while PTI MPA Basharat Ali Dogar was taken into custody by Jaranwala police.
In Sargodha, the Shahpur police registered a case against over 200 people, including two PTI MNAs and two MPAs, over violation of Section 144. Gujranwala police booked 36 people, while 300 were booked in Khushab.
Waseem Ashraf Butt in Gujrat, Majeed Gill in Bahawalpur, Tariq Saeed in Toba Tek Singh, Sajjad Niazi in Sargodha, Akram Malik in Gujranwala, Shafiq Butt in Sahiwal and Mansoor Malik in Lahore also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2024
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Belarus are seeking to strengthen bilateral relations, with a focus on boosting trade and economic cooperation, as Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko on Monday began a three-day official visit to the country.
President Lukashenko was welcomed at Nur Khan Airbase by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, accompanied by key cabinet ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, and Information Minister Ataullah Tarar.
The Belarusian president is being accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising government officials and representatives from leading business companies.
The 68-member delegation arrived a day earlier for holding meetings with their Pakistani counterparts. Belarusian business representatives participated in a business forum where agreements worth $17 million were signed, according to Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Mikhail Myatlikov.
Islamabad, which is under a security clampdown because of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf protest and access to most parts of the city had been blocked with shipping containers, was adorned with welcoming banners and portraits of the leaders of the two countries to mark the occasion.
“During the visit, President Lukashenko and Prime Minister Sharif will hold wide-ranging talks on bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.
“Looking forward to our discussions during this important visit,” Sharif posted on X, formerly Twitter, after receiving Lukashenko.
Focus on trade and cooperation
The two leaders are set to discuss various areas of collaboration, particularly trade and investment. According to the Belarusian presidency, the discussions will prioritise practical steps to develop trade and economic ties and explore promising areas of cooperation.
The two sides aim to devise a joint action plan to enhance bilateral engagement. Trade between Pakistan and Belarus totalled approximately $50 million in 2023, a figure both countries agree is far below the potential.
In addition to bilateral issues, the leaders will exchange views on regional and global security and explore avenues for cooperation at multilateral forums. Multiple agreements and memorandums of understanding are expected to be signed during the visit.
Foreign ministers prepare agenda
Earlier in the day, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar met his Belarusian counterpart, Maxim Ryzhenkov, to finalise the agenda for Mr Lukashenko’s visit.
“The ministers also discussed key regional and global developments, including the situation in the Middle East,” the Foreign Office said. “They expressed their support for peaceful resolution of conflicts and underlined the need for a coordinated approach to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza.”
Both ministers expressed satisfaction with the momentum of bilateral exchanges and high-level visits, expressing the hope that Mr Lukashenko’s visit would further strengthen ties between the two nations.
Investment partner
Meanwhile, Privatisation, Investment and Communication Minister Abdul Aleem Khan said that Pakistan and Belarus are to enhance government-to-government and business-to-business relations between the two countries.
The minister said this during a meeting with Belarus Transport Minister Alexei Lyakhnovich.
Mr Khan said that work is under way to launch direct flights from Islamabad to Moscow following the start of flight operations for Baku. He said that now cross-border trade is a key to strengthening the country’s economy and promoting bilateral relations.
Like Azerbaijan and Turkey, the government also wants to make Belarus an investment partner since Pakistan is rich in natural resources and positive results can be achieved with the skilled workforce, the country has, Mr Khan said.
Belarus Transport Minister Alexei Lyakhnovich, who is accompanying President of Belarus, invited the Communications Minister of Pakistan to visit Belarus and said his country wants to increase connectivity with Pakistan through railways and roads.
Mr Khan said that the communication sector is of utmost importance and “we want a trade corridor to Central Asia on the lines of the Karakoram Highway and CPEC to promote business activities”.
Separately, Belarus Minister for Industries Aliaksandr Yafimua held a meeting with Minister for Industries Rana Tanveer Hussain and discussed the potential cooperation between the two countries in the industrial and agricultural sectors.
Rana Tanveer said that Pakistan has considerable export potential with Belarus for products like inflatable footballs, articles of bedding and similar stuffed items, sports and outdoor games equipment, footwear, rubber, plastic and metal products.
The two ministers also discussed opportunities to enhance cooperation between the two countries in the small medium enterprises sector.
Amin Ahmed also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2024
KURRAM: Officials on Monday said the death toll from the recent violence that has plagued the restive Kurram tribal district had risen to 73, amid a tenuous ceasefire that is interrupted by sporadic gunfire.
Officials said that overnight firing between tribes divided along sectarian lines left one man dead and four others wounded in Lower Kurram. There were also reports of an exchange of fire and incidents of arson from different areas in the region.
Authorities acknowledged that the two sides had taken steps to abide by the terms of the week-long ceasefire, including the release of five women held hostage by one side and the return of two dead bodies.
While officials continued to work behind the scenes to keep the situation under control and pre-empt further escalation, the political leadership was conspicuous by its absence, as it is supposed to take the process forward and work towards a permanent ceasefire.
Overnight firing between tribes in Lower Kurram leaves one dead, four others wounded
Sources said that an official delegation of the provincial government on Sunday negotiated a ceasefire between the two groups, who agreed to release hostages besides returning the bodies as well. One group, however, refused to release hostages, they said.
Locals reported that incidents of gunfire continued in Alizai and Bagan areas of Lower Kurram and Khar Kalay and Baleechkhel areas of Upper Kurram.
The clashes broke out on Thursday after a convoy of passenger vehicles came under attack in Lower Kurram and resulted in the death of at least 39 people. The attack, allegedly a reprisal for an earlier assault on Oct 12, triggered a wave of violence in the district.
The number fatalities since Thursday’s attack has risen due to the death of critically wounded individuals. The total number of those with injuries due to armed clashes now stands at 63, officials said.
Soon after the attack, Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur had ordered an official delegation comprising Minister for Law Aftab Alam Afridi, Adviser to Chief Minister on Information Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry and police chief Akhtar Hayat Khan to visit the district and assess the situation.
On Sunday, Mr Saif said that the warring groups had agreed to a week-long ceasefire, an exchange of hostages and retrieval of bodies.
The district, which borders Afghanistan, has long been plagued by sectarian tensions, often fuelled by disputes over land ownership. While the government-appointed land commission reportedly submitted its findings in the past, the report remains unpublished due to sectarian sensitivities.
Meanwhile, educational institutions and markets remained closed on the fifth day of the armed conflict while annual FSc exams, being held by the Kohat educational board, were also postponed.
Head of the private school teachers’ association Muhammad Hayat Khan said that the exams were postponed indefinitely and that all the educational institutions in the area were closed.
Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2024
ISLAMABAD: The third meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on Monday nominated by majority Justice Muhammad Karim Khan Agha to head the nine-judge constitutional bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC), established under the 26th Constitutional Amendment.
The meeting was held in the Supreme Court building, presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi, who is also the chairman of JCP, to consider a single-point agenda on the formation of constitutional benches.
Other members of the Sindh High Court constitutional bench nominated were Justice Salim Jessar, Justice Omar Sial, Justice Yousaf Ali Sayeed, Justice Abdul Mobeen Lakho, Justice Zulfikar Ali Sangi, Justice Ms Sana Akram Minhas, Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro and Justice Arbab Ali Hakro.
The decision to set up the nine-judge constitutional bench of SHC was made with a majority of 11 to four. Both members of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) Omar Ayub, who is also Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly as well as Leader of the House in the Senate, Shibli Faraz, could not make it to the meeting. The meeting even waited for the two members for two hours but since their mobile phones were switched off, the JCP decided to commence the proceedings.
In absence of both PTI members Omar Ayub and Shibli Faraz, JCP in a majority decision okays nine-judge bench
The present meeting was expected after two weeks (Nov 25) to nominate judges of the Sindh High Court to become members of the constitutional bench in the high court.
Monday’s meeting was held in line with earlier resolution approved by the Sindh Assembly for the formation of the constitutional bench in the province with a simple majority under Article 202-A of the newly passed 26th Amendment.
The meeting was attended by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar, via video link, Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Chief Justice of SHC Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, senior puisne judge of SHC Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan, Senator Farooq Hamid Naek; Sheikh Aftab Ahmad, Member of the National Assembly; Ms Roshan Khurshid Barucha, Sindh Law Minister Zia ul Hassan Lanjar, Senior member of Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) Akhtar Hussain and Sindh Bar Council member Qurban Ali Malano.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar, however, dissented whereas CJP chose to abstain from voting.
According to the public announcement, JCP after an extensive and thoughtful exchange of views, considered the formation of the constitutional benches in the SHC and approved nine judges with a majority of 11 to four. The constitutional bench will function for two months.
Justice K.K. Agha has done LLB (Hons) from Birmingham University (UK) and had passed the Law Society Solicitors Finals Examination from Guildford College of Law.
Justice Agha commenced his legal career in 1987 at London Law firm Cameron Markby as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. His main practice areas were investment property and secured lending.
On his return to Pakistan Justice Agha was enrolled as an advocate of SHC and entered private practice with his main practice areas being banking, customs and criminal law and served for a brief period as the country’s legal counsel for Citibank NA Pakistan. He was later called to the Bar from Lincolns Inn, London.
Justice Agha was also appointed as a prosecutor at the United Nations (UN) International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) based in The Hague.
Whilst at the ICTY the judge was involved in some notable prosecutions for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide during the 1990’s Balkans conflict including the prosecution of the former President of Serbia Slobodan Milosevic.
At The Hague, Justice Agha also graduated from Leiden University with an LLM in Public International Law, with Specialisation in International Criminal law.
After serving at the ICTY his Lordship was appointed to the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone to lead the prosecution of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity during their overthrow of the then Sierra Leonean government.
Justice Agha was later appointed a senior Appeals Counsel in the AFRC and Civil Defence Force (CDF) appeals and assisted in drafting the Indictment of Charles Taylor the former President of Liberia who was later convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2024
QUETTA: Rail and road traffic in Balochistan remained suspended for hours on Monday as a complete wheel-jam strike was observed across the province on a joint call of political parties, traders and civil society against the abduction of a 10-year-old schoolboy.
All government and private schools, colleges and universities in Quetta and other parts of the province remained closed, while several cases including the one pertaining to student’s abduction scheduled for the day could not be heard in the Balochistan High Court due to the absence of judges.
In Balochistan Assembly, opposition lawmakers raised the issue of the kidnapping and criticised the government, particularly law enforcement agencies, for their failure in safe recovery of the child despite the passage of 10 days.
While talking to reporters outside the provincial assembly building, Chief Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti, however, claimed that the government and its forces were using all available resources for the early recovery of the kidnapped student. He expressed regret over the kidnapping.
Protesters seek child’s recovery as schools, colleges stay shut; courts, roads remain deserted
The 10-year-old son of a jeweller was kidnapped on his way to school in a van. Armed men intercepted the vehicle near his home in the Patel Bagh area and abducted him on Nov 15.
In Quetta, the provincial president of Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party, Nasarullah Zerey, along with leaders of the multiparty alliance, representatives of the business community had announced last week that a strike would be observed across the province to press the authorities for immediate and safe recovery of the child.
All roads and highways linking Balochistan with Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa province were blocked on Monday as protesters placed barricades and boulders at the entry points of Hub, Barkhan, Danasar, Dera Allahyar, Khuzdar, Chaman, Loralai and other areas.
In response to the protest call, transporters did not ply buses, coaches, goods trucks and other vehicles on roads across Balochistan. In Quetta, too, a wheel-jam strike was observed as vehicles remained off road throughout the day. There was no traffic even on the city outskirts.
Also, the Quetta-Chaman passenger train was cancelled by the railway authorities. “There was no train service between Quetta and border town Chaman due to wheel jam strike,” a senior railway official said.
However, no untoward incident was reported from any area during the province-wide protest, as strict security arrangements were made by the authorities in Quetta and other areas, with deployment of heavy contingents of police, levies and Frontier Corps.
Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2024
NEW DELHI: The stage was set on Monday for a clash between India’s ruling coalition and the opposition over corruption charges the US Department of Justice has brought against businessman Gautam Adani, considered a close associate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The first day of the winter session of parliament saw both houses being adjourned over demands for a discussion on the politically explosive case as well as on the deadly violence in Sambhal and Manipur.
Jagdeep Dhankar, chairman of the Rajya Sabha, received 13 notices from opposition MPs to raise the issue of “alleged corruption, bribery and financial irregularities of the Adani Group”.
Some members also submitted notices calling for a discussion on the violence in Sambhal, Manipur and the landslide-hit areas of Wayanad.
Dhankar, however, rejected the notices saying, “These notices do not conform to the directives imparted by the chair on this behalf. I have not been able to persuade myself to agree to the same.”
Proceedings were then adjourned for 15 minutes and then for the remainder of the day. The House will reconvene on Wednesday.
Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Om Birla, began the proceedings by reading out obituary references. The House observed a minute’s silence to pay respects to the deceased.
However, as opposition MPs asked for a discussion on the US indictment involving billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani, Birla announced that the House was adjourned till 12pm. When proceedings resumed, oppositions reiterated their demand that was rejected by Sandhya Ray who was occupying the chair at the time. The Lok Sabha will reconvene on Wednesday, 11am.
Last week, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), accused Adani of running a $265 million bribery scheme from 2020 to 2024 to secure solar energy contracts in India, projected to yield $2 billion in profits over 20 years.
“As alleged, the defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars and Gautam S. Adani, Sagar R. Adani and Vineet S. Jaain lied about the bribery scheme as they sought to raise capital from U.S. and international investors,” said Breon Peace, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Adani, who heads the Adani Group, and Sagar have been indicted for their roles as executives of Adani Green Energy Ltd.
Reports said, meanwhile, that a US agency was re-examining its decision to lend over $550 million to a Sri Lankan port project backed by the Adani Group. The US International Development Finance Corp had agreed to provide $553m in financing for the port terminal project in Colombo, Sri Lanka, last November. The project is partly owned by the Adani Group.
Reports quoted an official from the agency as stating that they are “actively assessing the ramifications” of the allegations and are committed to ensuring their projects and partners maintain high standards of integrity and compliance. Reports said no funds have been disbursed under the loan commitment yet.
Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2024
ISLAMABAD: Globally, 85,000 women and girls were killed intentionally in 2023, 60 per cent of these homicides — 51,000 — were committed by an intimate partner or other family member; while 140 women and girls die every day at the hands of their partner or a close relative, which means one woman or girl is killed every 10 minutes, reveals a report on femicides released on Monday.
The report, “Femicides in 2023: Global Estimates of Intimate Partner/Family Member Femicides” jointly produced by UN Women and UN Office for Drug and Crime, was released to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, observed on Monday.
According to the report, a vast majority of intentional killings of women and girls worldwide are perpetrated by intimate partners or other family members.
This suggests that the home remains the most dangerous place for women and girls in terms of the risk of lethal victimisation. Women and girls everywhere continue to be affected by this extreme form of gender-based violence and no region is excluded.
With an estimated 21,700 victims of intimate partner/family member femicide in 2023, Africa is the region with the highest number of victims in aggregate terms. Moreover, Africa continues to account for the highest number of victims of intimate partner/family member femicide relative to the size of its population.
The Americas and Oceania also recorded high rates of intimate partner/family member femicide in 2023, at 1.6 and 1.5 per 100,000 respectively, while the rates were significantly lower in Asia and Europe, at 0.8 and 0.6 per 100,000, respectively.
UN report says 85,000 women, girls killed intentionally in 2023
The intentional killing of women in the private sphere in Europe and in the Americas is largely committed by intimate partners. Out of all women killed by intimate partners or other family members in those two regions in 2023, 64pc were murdered by their intimate partners in Europe and 58pc in the Americas.
Over the past two decades, the number of countries reporting data on the killing of women and girls by intimate partners or other family members increased slowly. The number peaked in 2020 at 75 countries, but subsequently decreased and by 2023 was half the number in 2020. Furthermore, at present only a few countries are able to produce data on forms of femicide committed outside the domestic sphere in compliance with the UNODC-UN Women Statistical framework for measuring gender-related killings.
Even though men and boys account for the vast majority of homicide victims, women and girls continue to be disproportionately affected by lethal violence in the private sphere.
An estimated 80pc of all homicide victims in 2023 were men while 20pc were women, but lethal violence within the family takes a much higher toll on women than men, with almost 60 per cent of all women who were intentionally killed in 2023 being victims of intimate partner/family member homicide.
Violence in the family sphere can target both sexes but just 12pc of all male homicides in 2023, by contrast, were attributed to killings by intimate partners or other family members.
Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2024
CAIRO: Heavy rains flooded tent encampments of displaced Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Monday, adding seasonal winter misery to communities already devastated during the past 13 months, as Israeli forces stepped up strikes in the enclave.
Downpours overnight inundated tents and in some places washed away the plastic and cloth shelters used by displaced Gazans, most of whom have been uprooted several times during the conflict between Israel and Hamas militants.
Suad Al-Sabea, a mother of six from northern Gaza, now lives inside a classroom with broken windows at a school housing displaced families in Khan Yunis in the south of the Strip. She sells the bread she bakes in a wood-fuelled earth oven to make a living for her children, but rainwater spoiled the flour and damaged the oven, threatening to put her out of work.
“The dough drowned in water, and many mattresses drowned in water. It was raining on top of my head and I kept baking to provide for my children,” she said.
Some other tents closer to the beach were swept away by high waves.
The UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, said in a post on X that winter’s first rains mean even more suffering. “Around half a million people are at risk in areas of flooding,” it said. “The situation will only get worse with every drop of rain, every bomb, every strike.”
Israel ups strikes on Gaza
Meanwhile, Israeli military strikes intensified across the enclave.
In Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, an Israeli air strike killed at least four people, medics said, while tanks deepened their incursions in the northern edge of two towns of Beit Hanoun, and in Beit Lahiya, and Jabalia, the largest of the enclave’s eight historic refugee camps.
Medics said seven Palestinians were killed by two Israeli air strikes in the area of Jabalia.
On Monday, residents said Israeli planes dropped new leaflets on Beit Lahiya ordering remaining residents to leave to the south, saying the area would come under attack.
Israeli attacks in Gaza has killed more than 44,200 people, mostly civilians, and uprooted nearly the entire population at least once.
Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2024
NEW DELHI: Three Muslim men were killed as protesters opposing the survey of the Mughal-era Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh clashed with the police on Sunday, The Wire reported.
It quoted local Muslims as alleging that the three men were killed in police firing.
But the administration claimed that they were killed in cross-firing between the members of the mob, which attacked the police with stones from three sides and fired bullets at them.
A senior government official claimed that the police only lobbed teargas and used plastic bullets to disperse the protestors and evacuate the survey team from the area after the crowd rained stones at them.
The three persons who were killed in the “golibari” (firing) incident were identified as Naeem, Noman and Bilal, said Moradabad divisional commissioner Aunjaneya Kumar Singh.
Hindu activists claim the 500-year-old mosque was originally a temple site
The official, according to The Wire, said that 15-20 police constables were injured in the stone-pelting, a public relations officer of the Sambhal district police chief was shot in the leg, a deputy collector’s foot was fractured and a police circle officer was hit by a shrapnel.
Fifteen persons, including two women, accused of pelting stones at the police from a rooftop, were detained during the violence, said the commissioner.
Three or four cars and a couple of motorbikes parked in the area were also torched by the protesters, said the official.
The police said they were searching for those who indulged in the stone pelting on the basis of CCTV and drone camera footage and planned to slap the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against them.
“They challenged the police and administration in a targeted way and this was not the act of an unruly mob,” said Superintendent of Police Sambhal Krishan Kumar Bishnoi, alleging that the mob wanted to disrupt the survey work in the mosque.
The violence broke out in lanes near the Shahi Jama Masjid when an advocate commissioner appointed by a local court was conducting the survey in the presence of the local administration and police.
The court on Nov 14 ordered a survey of the mosque after taking cognisance of an application by some Hindu activists who filed a suit claiming that the Islamic religious site, built during the time of Emperor Babur, was originally a prominent Hindu temple dedicated to the prophesied avatar of Vishnu, Kalki.
After conducting an initial hurried survey of the mosque within a few hours of the court’s orders, the survey team reached the mosque for a second round of photography and videography on the morning of Nov 24.
The survey, which started around 7:30am, went on peacefully for two hours when a crowd gathered and started raising slogans, said the commissioner.
Civil judge Aditya Singh had directed the survey of the mosque on an application filed by plaintiffs, led by pro-Hindutva lawyer Hari Shankar Jain and Hindu seer Mahant Rishiraj Giri, as part of a civil suit claiming right for access into the mosque, The Wire said.
The mosque, claimed to have been built on the directions of the first Mughal emperor Babar, is acknowledged as a “historic monument” on the official website of the Sambhal district.
The Hindu petitioners, however, claimed that the mosque was the site of an ancient temple dedicated to Kalki, the prophesised final incarnation of Vishnu.
Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain claimed Emperor Babur partly demolished the Hari temple and tried to convert it into a mosque in 1529.
While accepting the plea of the Hindu plaintiffs to get the mosque surveyed by an advocate commissioner, the court said, “The submission of a report of the site might facilitate the court to adjudicate the suit”.
In their suit, the plaintiffs said that the mosque was a monument protected under Section 3 (3) of the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, 1904. They claimed that they were being “denied access” to the mosque.
The plaintiffs claimed that the site was a centuries-old Hari Temple dedicated to Kalki and was being “used forcibly and unlawfully” by the Jama Masjid committee.
SP MP from Sambhal, Zia-ur-Rehman Barq, who has opposed the survey on the grounds that the mosque was protected by The Place of Worship Act, 1991, appealed for peace after the violence. He promised to raise his voice against “police brutality” during the winter session of the parliament.
Vishnu Shankar Jain, the lawyer representing the Hindu plaintiffs, said the survey work was complete and the advocate commissioner would submit report to the court.
Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024
GUJRAT: At least three more cases have been lodged against Bushra Bibi, the wife of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, in different police stations of Gujranwala on hate speech, religious instigation and other charges based on her video statement, criticising Saudi Arabia.
The cases were registered with Sadar Gujranwala, Civil Lines and Gakhar Mandi police stations of the district on the complaints of various citizens. Two cases were lodged on Saturday last.
However, in the fresh case registered with the Gakhar Mandi police station on Sunday, complainant Mohammad Saeed Butt of Sultan Pura locality in Gakhar Mandi, alleged that he had been sitting at a restaurant where a statement of Bushra Bibi was aired in which she had accused Saudi Arabia of deviating from Sharia law thus causing an irreparable damage to relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
The case was registered under Sections 295A, 298, 153, 126 of Pakistan Penal Code and Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016.
An identical case was registered by Okara police.
Earlier, three cases were registered against Bushra Bibi at different police stations of Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur and Layyah for her remarks against the Saudi leadership.
Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024
WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump’s hardline immigration proposals — including a controversial mass deportation plan — could prove economically damaging, analysts say, with US sectors that rely heavily on foreign workers like agriculture and construction especially hard hit.
US authorities estimate that there are around 11 million unauthorised people living in the United States, the vast majority of whom come from Mexico.
Around 8.3m unauthorised people were in the labour force in 2022, according to a recent estimate from the Pew Research Center. That was equivalent to just under five per cent of the overall workforce.
“Today our cities are flooded with illegal aliens,” Trump said on the campaign trail earlier this year, adding: “Americans are being squeezed out of the labour force and their jobs are taken.”
By 2028, US growth may drop to 7.4pc beneath baseline estimates, study finds
The reality, however, is more complex; many of the sectors that could be the hardest-hit have long struggled to attract US workers.
“The construction and agriculture industries would lose at least one in eight workers, while in hospitality, about one in 14 workers would be deported due to their undocumented status,” the non-profit American Immigration Council (AIC) said in a recent report on Trump’s deportation plans.
The deportations would also impact “more than 30pc” of plasterers, roofers, and painters, along with a quarter of housekeeping cleaners, according to the report.
A recent joint study by the American Enterprise Institute, Brookings Institution, and the Niskanen Center estimated that Trump’s immigration plans could curb US GDP growth in 2025 by as much as 0.4 percentage points.
The impact on growth would primarily come from the direct effect of having fewer foreign workers producing goods and services, with an additional, smaller decline in output coming from less consumer spending by those groups.
In such a scenario, the authors said, “legal immigration is slightly below where it was during the pre-pandemic Trump administration, while enforcement and deportation efforts reach levels not seen in recent decades.”
A total of 3.2m people would be deported during Trump’s term under this projection, with net migration — arrivals minus departures — falling from 3.3m in 2024 to negative 740,000 in 2025, boosted by a sharp rise in voluntary emigration.
In a more extreme scenario, which analysts say is highly unlikely, the impact on growth could be much more significant.
A recent Peterson Institute for International Economics report modelled the impact of expelling all 8.3m unauthorised immigrant workers.
It predicted that economic growth by 2028 could be 7.4pc beneath baseline estimates, “meaning no US net economic growth occurs over the second Trump term because of this policy alone.”
At the same time, US inflation would be 3.5 percentage points higher by 2026 than it would otherwise be, as employers raised wages to attract American workers.
But even in a less significant scenario, mass deportations could push up prices, analysts say.
Trump’s immigration plans “could lead to big price increases in certain sectors of the economy, but could also lead to inflation,” said Michael Strain, AEI’s director of economic policy studies.
Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024
ISLAMABAD: A new research report from the World Bank has found the prevalence of three facets of mental health — depression, anxiety and parenting stress — among mothers of children aged up to 6 years in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Maternal mental health concerns are significantly associated with lower levels of early childhood development.
The research also analyses how exposure to stress factors such as food insecurity, financial insecurity, being impacted by flooding, community crime, discrimination, and domestic violence exacerbate both maternal mental health and child outcomes, according to the research report.
In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa specifically, 28 per cent of women and 58pc of pregnant women seen at health facilities have been found depressed.
An estimated 21pc of women in a study in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were found to have generalised anxiety disorder.
The report is based on a household survey commissioned by the World Bank and carried out by the Center for Evaluation and Development between December 2023 and February 2024 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Households were selected based on being located in the catchment area of one of 200 public schools across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, excluding newly merged districts.
At health facilities, 28pc of women and 58pc of pregnant women were found depressed in KP
The regression analyses indicate a significant and negative compounding interaction of maternal depression, anxiety, and parenting stress on early childhood development for younger (below 3 years) and older (3-6 years) children, even after controlling for stressors and other covariates.
The World Bank research suggests policy improvements are needed that focus on at-risk communities, providing mental health services and reducing exposure to stressors within communities and households.
Parents in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa confront a multitude of risks to child development that have worsened in the last decade.
Longstanding challenges include high rates of poverty, low access to high-quality education including preprimary education, and incomplete and inadequate coverage of social assistance cash transfers.
Added to these risks are maternal depression, anxiety and parenting stress, which have been found to be consistently negatively impacted by fragility, conflict and violence.
Various studies confirm that higher levels of parental depression, anxiety, and parenting stress respectively predict higher levels of children’s internalising behaviours, higher levels of externalising behaviours like anger, aggression, and reduced social-emotional competence like ability to self-regulate, follow instructions, get along with peers.
When multiple parental mental health problems co-occur, early childhood functioning is at increased risk.
The research paper says in Pakistan, rates of comorbidity of anxiety and depression have been found to range between 25pc and 34pc and higher rates are seen in women than men.
While these risks occur across the socio-economic spectrum, women in low-income households experience disproportionate levels of mental health concerns, such as depression, and display fewer characteristics that foster favourable early childhood development (ECD), such as maternal supportiveness and cognitive stimulation.
Vulnerable groups typically experience markedly higher rates of mental health concerns. Depression and anxiety during pregnancy have been shown to have a higher incidence among women from rural areas compared to those from urban areas in Pakistan.
A cross-sectional study in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa found an association between women with low educational attainment and higher levels of maternal depression and anxiety.
Data from Pakistan shows correlations with maternal depression in the antenatal and postpartum periods, there is less research showing relationships between mothers’ mental health status and ECD through the preschool-age years. Pakistan has one of the highest estimates of maternal postpartum depression in Asian countries, with rates ranging from 28pc to 63pc — as well as evidence of paternal post-partum depression.
Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024
PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, whose workers were marching towards Islamabad on Sunday in a ‘do or die’ protest aimed at forcing the government to set free Imran Khan along with accepting some other crucial demands, introduced a novel way to counter one of the stringent measures put in place to thwart their movement.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter of PTI brought huge industrial fans — similar to those used in paramotoring — besides employing other gadgets to protect the participants from the effects of teargas shelling.
The large fans, transported on a truck, are being probably used for the first time in a political march in Pakistan.
The PTI’s social media head in KP, Ikram Khattana, while talking to Dawn said the fans had been locally manufactured for their planned protest march towards Islamabad.
“There are six such fans which are part of the convoy taken out from Peshawar,” Mr Khattana said, adding that electricity generators had been arranged to operate these fans.
Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024
ISLAMABAD: The government has decided in principle to phase the ongoing Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) over three years to ensure timely completion of high-priority projects and meet International Monetary Fund (IMF) requirements.
The move is part of a four-pronged strategy to reduce the current Rs9 trillion development portfolio under the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility.
Sources told Dawn that a meeting presided over by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal last week consolidated a way forward based on PSDP, which, if not corrected, would take more than 14 years to complete at the current pace of implementation.
It was agreed that the IMF-mandated conditions should be a starting point that required a “one-time review of all technically approved projects to reduce the set of active projects to high-priority projects that can be completed in a timely manner”.
Plans to hold quarterly instead of half-yearly reviews to meet IMF requirements
The meeting also decided to make it mandatory to hold quarterly reviews, instead of half-yearly reviews, of this year’s PSDP and formulate a strategy to induct new projects in the coming fiscal year that serve the current government’s priorities.
Report on outcome of PSDP reviews
The government is required under the IMF programme to produce a report on the outcome of the PSDP review.
The meeting was informed that 1,071 development projects were part of the federal PSDP for the current year, of which only 105 projects were nearing completion with 80pc or higher physical progress and had been allocated just Rs37bn during the current year.
About 85 foreign-funded projects totalling Rs260bn were part of the current year’s portfolio.
The meeting noted that based on demand from various ministries and agencies, the current year’s PSDP needed Rs2.053tr but was allocated Rs1.4tr in the budget and later reduced to Rs1.1tr to meet IMF requirements.
The demand for the next fiscal year (2025-26) was put at Rs2.1tr, followed by Rs1.5tr in fiscal year 2027.
It was reported that the pace of spending during the current year had been very slow in the first five months and only nine ministries had a funding utilisation of 11pc to 18pc while six other ministries were able to spend more than 5pc of their annual allocation.
Zero spending in five months The remaining 27 ministries or divisions had an expenditure level of less than 5pc, including 10 of them having zero spending in the first five months.
The PSDP utilisation as of Nov 20 has been reported at just Rs92bn, or 8pc of the revised budget allocation of Rs1.1tr, down from Rs1.4tr, as part of the IMF agreement. The Rs92bn utilisation accounts for 6.6pc of the budget allocation or 8.4pc of the revised PSDP cap.
Under the mechanism announced by the Ministry of Finance for the current fiscal year, the government should release 15pc of the budgeted allocation in the first quarter, followed by 20pc in the second quarter, 25pc in the third quarter and the remaining 40pc in the last quarter of the fiscal year.
As such, the estimated release for the PSDP up to Nov 20 should be around 26pc of the annual allocation or no less than Rs290bn.
This year’s utilisation is also significantly lower than last year’s Rs117bn, or around 13pc of Rs940bn annual allocation, despite the tight fiscal position and strict stabilisation programme in place.
Under the IMF programme, the Planning Commission has set matrix-based principles for identifying and financing future development projects. This included that all projects should demonstrate robust economic and financial rationale, given the current balance of payments challenges and there would be “a mechanism to reduce financial burdens and ensure practical implementation”.
Criteria for project selection
The IMF had set a structural benchmark for January 2025, requiring the government to develop and publish “criteria for project selection, including an annual limit on the total size of new projects entering the PSDP portfolio”.
The IMF instructed the government to undertake serious public financial management reforms to strengthen budgetary discipline, enhance transparency, build confidence in budgetary spending and improve PSDP management.
Key measures to improve the budget process, according to the Fund’s demands, include producing and publishing quarterly reports comparing budget projections with actual execution.
In this regard, the IMF suggested measures to enhance the PSDP portfolio management by “conducting a one-time review to prioritise and rationalise ongoing and approved PSDP projects and integrating the current expenditures associated with new projects into the decision-making process”.
Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024
THE $300 billion package, agreed upon at COP29 in Baku as the new finance goal, is nothing to write home about and many from the developing world and civil society organisations fear it will jeopardise their efforts to adapt to the changing climate.
For context, Pakistan alone needs $380 billion by 2030 to meet its climate goals, and the delegation expressed its disappointment at the closing plenary.
“We are leaving Baku with mixed feelings and a heavy heart. We note critical gaps in the decision we all adopted here … Global solidarity is important but the goal put forward by the developed countries does not match with the needs of the developing countries,” Romina Khurshid Alam, the PM’s aide on climate change, said in her speech at the closing plenary.
The Global South had demanded $1.3 trillion annually, but after almost a week of delaying tactics, the first draft agreement only mentioned ‘X’ trillion instead of an actual number.
Goal doesn’t match needs of developing world, Romina tells final COP29 plenary
Subsequently, $250 billion was offered, which was termed ‘insultingly low’ by the developing bloc. Eventually, $300 billion a year by 2035 was offered in the revised draft agreement, which was shared after midnight, and despite reservations on its quantum and quality, it was adopted by the plenary.
According to AFP, the applause had barely subsided when many developing states delivered a full-throated rejection of the deal, with the Indian delegate terming it a “paltry sum” and “an optical illusion”.
Sierra Leone’s climate minister Jiwoh Abdulai said it showed a “lack of goodwill” from rich countries, while Nigeria’s envoy Nkiruka Maduekwe put it even more bluntly, saying, “This is an insult”.
The agreement for the new collective quantified goal (NCQG) highlighted that “costed needs reported in nationally determined contributions of developing country parties are estimated at $5.1–6.8 trillion for up until 2030 or $455–584 billion per year and adaptation finance needs are estimated at $215–387 billion annually for up until 2030”.
According to the document, the gap between climate finance flows and needs, particularly for adaptation in developing countries, was concerning, and all parties were asked to work together to enable the scaling up of financing to developing countries.
One of the main points of disagreement was the quality of finance, as the Global South had been demanding public finance instead of mobilisation of private funding. The text, however, called on “all actors to work together to enable the scaling up of financing” to developing countries for climate action from all public and private sources to at least $1.3 trillion per year by 2035.
According to journalists present at the plenary, the agreement was gavelled through, with the presidency hardly giving the delegates any time to register their protests.
The new agreement decided to periodically take stock of the implementation of the NCQG decision as part of the global stocktake and to initiate deliberations on the way forward prior to 2035, including through a review of this decision in 2030.
Sanjay Vashist, director of the Climate Action Network South Asia, said the developing world needs at least $1.3 trillion for mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage, and by throwing $300 billion on the table and kicking any and all real decisions down the road to 2035, rich countries had not only betrayed the people of the Global South, but also their own citizens, who had hoped that their governments will finally grow a spine and act responsibly.
“Tonight in Baku, the masks have come off [and] rich and developed countries’ governments have revealed their true intentions, that they never intended to honour any of their commitments made under the Paris Agreement. Their addiction to fossil fuels has blinded them and they have allowed the over 1,000 fossil fuel industry representatives to hijack the COP29 negotiations,” he added in his statement.
SDPI Executive Director Abid Sulehri, who was part of Pakistan’s negotiating team, told Dawn that the $300bn agreement doesn’t match either; the urgency and ambition required to rescue the Paris Agreement, or the ambitious agenda that the developing countries are required to pursue to implement their NDCs.
“Although the number seems three times higher than what was agreed in Paris (i.e. $100bn every year till 2020), one must keep in mind that after adjusting for US inflation, the $300bn figure will be too little and too less. In the spirit of multilateralism we should cautiously welcome COP’s decision but should keep on pressing the developed countries to pay for their historic emissions.”
The only significant outcome, which made every government happy at this summit, was the carbon market guidelines adopted under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
This story was produced as part of the 2024 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship organised by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security
Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024
KURRAM: Warring tribes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s restive Kurram district agreed on Sunday to a week-long ceasefire, an exchange of hostages and the retrieval of bodies following three days of armed clashes that left at least 64 people dead and over 70 injured.
The truce was brokered by an official delegation led by Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, the information adviser to the KP’s chief minister.
“We engaged both groups (in the Parachinar and Sadda cities of Kurram), convincing them to agree to a seven-day ceasefire. Hostages will be released and the bodies of the deceased will also be recovered,” Mr Saif told Dawn.
The delegation, which included the provincial chief secretary, police chief and law minister, was dispatched to Kurram to assess the situation after a deadly ambush on a passenger convoy last Thursday claimed over 40 lives.
The attack, allegedly a reprisal for an earlier assault on Oct 12, has triggered a wave of violence in the district.
In a retaliatory attack on Friday night, armed groups from the district headquarters Parachinar stormed Bagan Bazaar and surrounding villages in Lower Kurram, leaving 21 dead.
Kurram district, which borders Afghanistan, has long been plagued by sectarian tensions, often fuelled by disputes over land ownership.
While the government-appointed land commission reportedly submitted its findings in the past, the report remains unpublished due to sectarian sensitivities.
Mr Saif said that normalising the situation was the delegation’s top priority before carrying on with negotiations to address deeper disputes since “nothing could be done during an ongoing conflict”.
Despite achieving a temporary truce, tensions remain high in areas like Bagan, where some armed individuals continue to hold positions.
The chief minister’s adviser said that the groups made a commitment to the delegation for the ceasefire and hoped that the hostage swap would also be done today (Monday).
He admitted the situation remains tense in areas like Bagan and hoped it would normalise after the swap.
Mr Saif also noted that since most elders from both groups resided in Kohat district, the delegations planned to visit Kohat today as talks were still underway.
“Both sides have agreed to a ceasefire, but the delegation is monitoring the situation and keeping an eye on miscreants,” Mr Saif said.
Meanwhile, the district remained tense on Sunday, with reports of intermittent firing from various locations, including Bagan, Alizai, Baleechkhel and Kharkalay in Lower Kurram, as well as Kanj Alizai and Maqbal in Upper Kurram.
While taking to Dawn, former MNA Sajid Turi called for increased cooperation from security forces, police and local administration to stabilise the district.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Sunday expressed deep concern over the deteriorating law and order situation in Kurram, condemning the provincial government’s handling of the crisis, the APP reported.
“On the one hand, the Kurram district is burning in the fire of unrest, and on the other, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is absent from the scene,” he stated in a press release from Bilawal House.
He pointed out that in the last few days, 80 citizens had been killed in Kurram, and people were not even safe in their homes, adding that the government’s silence during this turmoil was tantamount to being an ally of the terrorists.
Mr Bhutto-Zardari emphasised that maintaining law and order was the primary responsibility of the provincial government and that the PTI-led provincial government had failed to protect the lives and property of citizens.
“We condemn the criminal negligence of the PTI government in Kurram,” he said.
“My heart is bleeding for the victims, and we cannot stand to see Khyber Pakhtunkhwa burn in the flames of lawlessness. The Pakistan Peoples Party will play its role in ensuring peace and order, not only in Kurram but across the entire province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he added.
Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024
ISLAMABAD: The government’s efforts to curb the spread of poliovirus appear to be failing as three more cases have been reported from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The new cases were reported days after a Global Polio Eradication Initiative delegation met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other officials to discuss “strategies to combat the poliovirus outbreak and to address emerging challenges”.
Pakistan has now reported 55 cases of poliovirus in 2024. The widespread detection of cases and indication of the virus’ presence in several cities depict the immunity gap among children.
The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the three wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases.
A lab official told Dawn that new cases were reported from Dera Ismail Khan, Zhob and Jaffarabad. The victims were female children aged 8 and 20 months and a five-month-old male child.
All three districts have already reported a case of poliovirus this year.
D.I. Khan has been one of the seven polio-endemic districts in southern KP South KP, where routine immunisation programmes have faced significant challenges in accessing all vulnerable children during the last three years. D.I. Khan has now reported six polio cases.
Similar challenges are prevalent in Balochistan, where Zhob and Jaffarabad districts have reported three and two cases, respectively, in 2024.
The districts form part of central Pakistan, another epidemiologically important zone that has been detecting the virus repeatedly for over a year, linked to core reservoirs of Quetta block as well as Karachi,“ he said.
Of the total 55 cases reported so far, 26 have been reported from Balochistan, 14 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 13 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024
ISLAMABAD: As PTI supporters from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and other parts of the country marched towards the capital, the government struck an aggressive note, saying that anyone trying to enter the city despite the unprecedented security arrangements and blockades in place would face the music.
Government functionaries have termed the PTI power show a ‘well-thought out conspiracy’, as it coincides with yet another foreign dignitary’s visit; the arrival of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The Belarusian president is due in Islamabad today.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who received an advance delegation from Belarus on Sunday, vowed that all protesters trying to enter the federal capital will be taken into custody.
Authorities have sealed off Islamabad’s Red Zone, which houses key government buildings, and secured the Diplomatic Enclave, he said.
Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Mr Naqvi said that the security measures were put in place to protect residents of the capital and their property, blaming the PTI for inconveniencing thousands of people.
Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar also questioned the PTI’s repeated calls for strikes, terming them a “well-thought out conspiracy” against the country.
In a statement on Sunday, he regretted the party always seemed to call for a protest at a time when global figures were visiting Pakistan, whether it be the Chinese premier’s visit, the SCO summit or other occasion.
PTI doesn’t want Imran’s release: Tarar
In a separate presser, Federal Minister for Information Attaullah Tarar claimed that most leaders and workers of the PTI were courting arrests to avoid participation in an “illegal and unnecessary” protest.
“One thing is pretty clear that the PTI’s leadership does not want their leader released from jail,” he said, adding that they were receiving information from Punjab and Islamabad that most of the party’s top- and lower-tier leaders were voluntarily surrendering to police.
He maintained that the PTI only wished to secure an NRO-like deal for the release of their leader, but said the government cannot do anything in this regard.
This is the domain of the courts, where the PTI is supposed to argue and fight for the release of their leader, who has been facing different charges, he added.
“Life in Islamabad is normal as people are taking strolls in parks and children are playing at different places, but some major highways have been closed to maintain law and order in the city,” he said, holding the PTI responsible for road closures, and inflicting losses on traders.
Fight cases in court, not on streets: Iqbal
Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal also accused the PTI of wanting to sabotage national development.
Speaking at a press conference here on Sunday, he counselled Imran Khan to prove his innocence in court, where he is being tried, instead of bringing his party on the roads again and again to try and pressure the government for his release.
“His release hinges on clearance from the courts. He will have to clear himself from the cases registered against him. Without this, the government cannot release him,” he said, while referring to PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan’s statement that the PTI was forced to protest to seek the release of its founder.
Under the PTI regime, he recalled, PML-N leaders managed to get justice from courts and did not appeal to the government for their release.
If Imran Khan believed that he was innocent and the cases against him were false, then the way forward is not to sabotage the country and launch an international campaign to defame the homeland, but to prove his innocence in the courts, he said.
Mr Iqbal said there was irrefutable evidence against the PTI founder in the Toshakhana and Al-Qadir Trust cases, and his legal team was simply using delaying tactics.
KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur was fully focused on the federation and Punjab, and not worried at all about the law and order situation in Kurram and Parachinar, Mr Iqbal asserted, adding that while blood was being spilt in these areas, KP government resources were being used for the PTI protest.
Similar sentiments were also expressed by Federal ministers Musadik Malik and Amir Muqam.
Amjad Mahmood in Lahore also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024
ISLAMABAD / LAHORE: PTI leaders said on Sunday they were in “no hurry” to reach the federal capital for their ‘do or die’ protest, as workers and supporters from across the country attempted to defy arrests, baton charge and tear gas to participate in the agitation.
The protesters, coming mainly from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, were still quite away from Islamabad until late Sunday night. The party and police officials expect the caravan of supporters from KP to enter the federal capital by Tuesday or Wednesday.
In Punjab and Islamabad, PTI leaders failed to mobilise the workers effectively as the police swiftly thwarted their attempts to hold gatherings.
Security personnel used batons and tear gas before rounding up scores of people in several cities.
PTI leader Asad Qaiser told Dawn that caravans of protesters marching towards Islamabad “from across the country” would still take a few days to reach Islamabad.
“The rally coming from Peshawar to Islamabad is spread over 14 kilometres,” he claimed, adding that similar numbers would be arriving from D.I. Khan, Abbottabad, Balochistan and other areas.
Although rallies have entered Punjab, “we have instructed our workers that we are not in a hurry to reach Islamabad,” Mr Qaiser told Dawn.
“[O]ur destination is Islamabad but we can take a day or two to reach there and let the government machinery remain panicked.”
Police officials, while citing intelligence reports, said PTI’s caravan coming from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was likely to stay in or near Swabi on Sunday and continue its march on Monday, reaching Attock on the Punjab-KP border by the day’s end. They are then likely to move towards Islamabad on Tuesday, sources claimed.
According to journalists, the caravan from KP had halted at Ghazi Barotha, short of Attock, on Sunday night. However, many groups of PTI activists defied police expectations and entered Punjab via different highways late on Sunday.
Groups from various parts of KP, such as the Peshawar and Malakand regions, entered Punjab from various thoroughfares after circumventing roadblocks on major arteries.
Another group of protesters from southern KP was en route via the Hakla-Dera Ismail Khan Motorway, while the procession from the Hazara region used the Hazara Expressway to enter Punjab.
Bushra Bibi, the spouse of PTI founder Imran Khan, was also part of the convoy coming from Peshawar.
In a brief speech near the Swabi Interchange, Mr Gandapur urged the workers to “utilise all their energy” to remove hurdles on their way towards their destination — D-Chowk in Islamabad.
The main procession was also joined by protesters from Dera Ismail Khan, led by Mr Gandapur’s brother Umar Amin; Balochistan, led by Salar Khan Kakar; Tank; and South Waziristan.
The protesters had their first face-off with Punjab police near Attock. As police fired tear gas, they pelted stones and set fire to a toll booth and a van.
The skirmishes continued till the filing of this report, in the early hours of Monday.
Islamabad, Pindi clashes
The internet and social media faced disruption in and around Islamabad, while mobile phone services remain functional.
A police officer told Dawn that cellular services have been kept operational as part of the strategy to identify protesters entering Islamabad through the geo location of their SIMs and mobile phone IMEI numbers.
The first clash between PTI supporters and police in Islamabad took place around noon at Faizabad.
Around 20 protestors were rounded up at Faizabad, where a second round of agitation took place at sunset when a number of protestors tried to cross the interchange connecting Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
After sunset, groups of protestors reached Khanna, Dhok Kalak Khan, and Sohan, where physical confrontations with the police took place.
However, the protestors put up resistance, set containers on fire, and damaged police vehicles.
A dozen protesters also managed to reach Express Chowk, a few metres from D-Chowk, but they were swiftly rounded-up and moved to police stations for further legal action.
A massive clampdown against PTI workers and leaders was carried out by security forces in Rawalpindi.
Former law minister of Punjab, Muhammad Basharat Raja, with a handful of supporters, appeared at Bhatta Chowk but managed to escape when policemen charged with batons to disperse them.
Arrests, clashes in Punjab
The PTI leadership in Punjab was not troubled by the low turnout on Sunday and said they were in for a protracted fight with the government.
“This is only Day 1 of a long protest,” said PTI Punjab information secretary Shaukat Basra.
The party has planned to “exhaust the police” by approaching them and retreating, he said and acknowledged that hundreds of workers had been arrested in all major districts.
The party leaders and workers would now stage “flash protests to keep the police on their toes” all over the province.
PTI workers clashed with police in Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Taxila, Bahawalpur, Lodhran, Multan, Jhelum, Okara, Sahiwal, Toba Tek Singh, Khanewal, Chichawatni and Jaranwala.
Hundreds of workers, MPA, MNAs and office-bearers were arrested as police fired tear gas and baton-charged the protesters to disperse them. The roads leading in and out of the cities were sealed with containers.
In Multan, PTI lawmakers Zain Qureshi, Amir Dogar, Moeen Qureshi, Rana Tufail Noon and others were arrested. The arrests “without any confrontation” filled PTI supporters with doubt who said the leaders “courted arrest”.
Police also alleged that several PTI leaders made voluntary arrests to stay away from the protest, which was in violation of the party’s high command’s directives.
In Lahore, MPA Farrukh Javed Moon was arrested as he helped the PTI Punjab president Hammad Azhar to escape after a brief appearance during one of the demonstrations in the city.
Mr Azhar, who has been in self-imposed hiding, was supposed to lead a rally from his constituency but he escaped before to avoid arrest.
Similarly, PTI secretary-general Salman Akram Raja had to slip away to avoid being arrested, after a rally he led was intercepted by the police.
Former MPA Nadeem Abbas Bara, MNA from Kasur Azeemuddin Zahid Lakhvi, advocate Akram Saqi, MPA Waqas Mahmood, MNA Rai Hassan Nawaz were arrested in Lahore, Sheikhupura and Chichawatni.
In Faisalabad, Sunni Ittehad Council chairman and MNA Sahibzada Hamid Raza reached the Kamalpur Interchange on Sargodha Road with scores of PTI activists.
Police used tear gas shells to stop the protesters, and the confrontation was still ongoing till the filing of this report late on Sunday.
In Gujrat, police foiled an attempt by PTI workers to take out a rally and at least two dozen of them were detained in Gujrat and Gujranwala districts.
Scores of PTI workers belonging to the constituencies of party president Chaudhary Parvez Elahi and his son Moonis Elahi tried to take out a rally from the G.T. Road bypass, but police reached there and arrested at least a dozen of them.
A statement by PTI claimed that police baton-charged peaceful protesters led by Mr Elahi’s wife, Qaisara, and her sister, Sameera Elahi.
There were reports of a brief clash in Tatlay Aali between Gujranwala police and PTI workers, who were led by former MNA Bilal Ejaz and MPA Mian Arqam Khan.
The two leaders were briefly held before enraged PTI supporters attacked the police and injured SHO Salman Saleem and ASI Rahat Nawaz.
The mob successfully freed both leaders, who escaped on motorcycles.
The police also raided the residences and political offices of former MNA Mian Tariq Mahmood and local PTI leader Lala Asadullah Papa and reportedly vandalised furniture and other belongings.
In Okara, PTI ticket holders Advocate Mahr Muhammad Arshad Mahar and Mahr Javid Iqbal were arrested along with at least three dozen workers.
In Sahiwal, MNA Rai Hasan Nawaz escaped arrest as a rally he was leading was intercepted by the police at Kamaliya Road. Later, more than 88 workers were detained along with Rana Amir Shahzad, PTI ticket holder from NA 141.
Abdul Majeed Goraya in Peshawar, Munawer Azeem in Islamabad, Mohammad Asghar in Rawalpindi, Waseem Ashraf Butt in Gujrat, Hamid Asghar in Gujar Khan, and our correspondents in Taxila, Okara, Bahawalpur and Sahiwal also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024
LONDON: Ireland, Britain and France faced travel chaos on Saturday and one person died as a winter storm battered northwest Europe with strong winds, heavy rain, snow and ice.
Hampshire Police in southern England said a man died after a tree fell onto a car on a major road near Winchester early in the day.
Police in West Yorkshire said they were probing whether a second death from a traffic accident was linked to the storm. It is understood the road was not icy at the time of the incident.
Storm Bert left at least 60,000 properties in Ireland without power, and closed roads and some ferry and train routes on both sides of the Irish Sea.
Road, rail, sea and air traffic badly hit, with tens of thousands of homes without power
Channel ports and airports in Britain were badly affected while in France, tens of thousands remained without power after Storm Caetano.
Hundreds of passengers were stranded when trains were halted by power cuts.
Media footage showed flooding in the west of Ireland, which also caused rail closures in Northern Ireland. Snow impacted travel across Britain.
The heaviest snow hit Scotland and parts of northern and central England, with dozens of flood alerts in place.
The UK Met Office issued snow and ice warnings for those regions, saying there was a “good chance some rural communities could be cut off”.
Scottish hills could see up to 16 inches of snow, while winds approaching 113km per hour were recorded in Britain.
Ferry operator DFDS cancelled services on some routes until Monday, with sailings from Newhaven and Dover in southern England to Dieppe and Calais in France severely affected.
Flights were disrupted at Newcastle airport due to heavy snow, with some flights diverted to Belfast and Edinburgh.
Blackouts
Avanti West Coast, which runs rail services between England and Scotland, advised customers not to attempt travel beyond the northern English city of Preston, as it cancelled numerous trains.
National Highways also issued a “severe weather alert”, warning of “blizzard conditions” affecting Yorkshire and northeast England, with a number of road closures announced.
The worst affected areas for power outages were in western and northwestern Ireland, according to ESB Networks, which runs the country’s electricity system.
In Britain, the National Grid operator said power had been restored to “many homes and businesses” but more than 4,000 properties — the majority in southwest England —were still without electricity.
Some 47,000 homes remained without power in northern France on Saturday, two days after the country was battered by Storm Caetano, power company Enedis said.
Up to 270,000 people had been cut off due to the storm, but the power firm said it had 2,000 technicians working to reconnect electricity lines torn down by winds of up to 130kph. Several hundred passengers were stranded on two trains in western France halted by power cuts.
Some 200 people on a train going from Hendaye to Bordeaux and 400 on high-speed TGV going from Hendaye to Paris spent up to nine hours in the carriages. Junior transport minister Francois Dourovray told RTL radio that up to 1,000 passengers on different trains were affected by the power cut.
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024
BAKU: The climate finance goal continued to elude the negotiators even on Saturday, as the developing countries remained in a deadlock with the rich nations over its quantum and quality.
While the developed states upped the proposal by $50 billion after the developing countries termed the $250bn a year offer by the Global North ‘insultingly low’, it remained unacceptable to the developing world that demanded at least $1.3 trillion, with a significant chunk to be allocated under public finance.
After an entire day of ‘will they or won’t they’, the plenary met on Saturday evening to take up the agenda items on which there was an agreement, and quickly proceeded with them. There were only objections during the session, by the Maldives and Chile. The plenary was adjourned after this, without taking up the new collective quantified goal (NCQG).
“Rich nations have agreed to raise the climate finance from 250 billion dollars to 300 billion dollars. However, they are asking for some concessions in return,” said Dr Abid Sulehri of the Sustainable Policy Development Institute. “Now the negotiations are on these two points. Developing countries are asking for more funds and concrete pledges not empty promises,” he added. There was no revised draft agreement reflecting this number when this report went to press by midnight (Baku time).
Rules for carbon markets under adopted; civil society terms it ‘false solution’
In its extra time, the only substantial progress was the adoption of controversial carbon markets under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. At the start of this two-week conference, the presidency approved the carbon market guidelines but there was a deadlock on Article 6.2 (bilateral carbon trade). These markets allow countries and companies to trade emission reductions in the form of carbon credits to promote mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.
The Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice strongly condemned this move. “There is an increasing body of evidence demonstrating the failure of such schemes to reduce emissions, all while increasingly being linked to great harm caused to frontline communities and ecosystems,” it said in a statement issued after the adoption of these markets.
“The supposed ‘COP of climate finance’ has turned into the ‘COP of false solutions’. The UN has given its stamp of approval to fraudulent and failed carbon markets. We have seen the impacts of these schemes: land grabs, Indigenous Peoples’ and human rights violations. The now operationalised UN global carbon market may well be worse than existing voluntary ones and will continue to provide a get out of jail free card to Big Polluters whilst devastating communities and ecosystems,” said Kirtana Chandrasekaran of Friends of the Earth International.
This story was produced as part of the 2024 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship organised by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024
NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept the Maharashtra state polls on Saturday, and while Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it a victory “for development and good governance”, he led the field in setting the stage for a vicious polarisation to target Muslims.
“Ek hain to safe hain,” the prime minister repeatedly told the voters in what is being described as among the most vicious communal campaigns staged by the BJP and its rightwing allies. The phrase translates as “We are safe if we stay united,” implying that other parties would unleash Muslim hegemony on India. It was echoed stridently by the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Aditytanath, roped into the campaign for his bilious hatred of liberals.
“Bateinge to kateinge,” railed the saffron-robed politician, the dog-whistle implying that the voters would be chopped if they didn’t supported the BJP.
But the recurring theme of the campaign was reflected in the audiovisual ad with a clip showing Muslims raiding a Hindu home and occupying it with expressions of glee.
The clip was ordered to be taken down by the election commission, but it apparently continued to be used to work on the electorate. The BJP’s deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis who campaigned against Pakistan to woo voters is expected to claim the post of chief minister of India’s second most vote-rich state, whose capital Mumbai is the country’s financial hub.
A part of the campaign focused on BJP’s alleged nepotism in handing him the development of Dharavi in Mumbai’s heart.
Former chief minister Udhav Thackeray had won global accolades for his handling of the Covid-19 emergency in the heavily populated slum. Adani also would be having interest in the state of Jharkhand from where he plies a coal-based power transmission to Bangladesh. However, the predominantly tribal Jharkhand voters defeated the BJP where it had again waged a communal battle by targeting Muslims.
TV anchor Karan Thapar discussed the Maharashtra and Jharkhand campaigns, where he saw how “conscious and deliberate attempts were made in speeches and advertisements to demonise and vilify the Muslim community”.
He interviewed veteran blogger and a widely read author of short stories, Avay Shukla, who said: “We’ve become a Muslim-hating country” and India faces “an existential crisis”.
In the interview for The Wire, Mr Shukla, a former senior bureaucrat, said the prime minister’s speeches were “not dog whistles but commands to take action along these lines”.
The verdict once again proved pollsters wrong. They gave the BJP-backed alliance in Maharashtra a nominal victory. The results are astounding for the Congress-backed alliance, which was hovering at a paltry 46 seats in the 288 Maharashtra assembly. The BJP and its allies were heading for a sweep with 236.
In Jharkhand’s 81-member assembly, the Congress backed alliance was close to winning 56 seats against the BJP’s 24.
The battles in other states where several by-polls were held produced an even result. Congress won all three in Karnataka, and Mamata Banerjee’s TMC took all seven seats in the fray in West Bengal. Priyanka Gandhi sailed through the Wayanad parliamentary seat in Kerala, but the party lost its Lok Sabha seat in Nanded in Maharashtra to the BJP.
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024
BEIRUT: A powerful airstrike killed 15 people in central Beirut and 13 others were killed in attacks northeast of the Lebanese capital on Saturday, while around 120 Palestinians were killed as Israel continued to press its offensive in Gaza and Lebanon.
Eight of the victims, four of them children, were killed in a strike on the Lebanese village of Chimstar and five people died in an attack on the village of Bodai, the ministry said. Both villages are in the Baalbek district.
In Beirut, an eight-storey building was struck with four missiles, including bunker penetrating types designed to hit underground targets, said a Lebanese security source.
At the site of the Israeli strike in central Beirut, Amin Chirri, a member of parliament, said there had been no Hezbollah leader in the building that was struck.
The Israeli military made no immediate comment.
Saturday’s blasts shook the Lebanese capital at around 4am and left a deep crater. Beirut smelled strongly of explosives for hours afterwards.
Rescuers searched through rubble, in an area of the city known for its antique shops.
It was the fourth Israeli airstrike this week targeting a central area of Beirut, in contrast to the bulk of Israel’s attacks on the capital region.
“There was dust and wrecked houses, people running and screaming, they were running, my wife is in hospital, my daughter is in hospital, my aunt is in the hospital,” said Nemir Zakariya, who held up a picture of his daughter after the strike.
“This is the little one, and my son also got hurt — this is my daughter, she is in the American University (of Beirut Medical Centre), this is what happened.”
Separately, at least five people were killed and two wounded in an Israeli strike on Roum village in southern Lebanon on Saturday.
Israeli strikes killed at least 62 people and injured 111 in Lebanon on Thursday, bringing the toll in 13 months to 3,645 dead and 15,355 injured, Lebanon’s health ministry said.
The figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
The Lebanese government has accused Israel of indiscriminate bombing that kills civilians. Israel denies the allegation and says it takes numerous steps to avoid the deaths of civilians and it accuses Hezbollah of using human shields.
120 killed in 48 hours
On the other hand, Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 120 Palestinians over the last 48 hours and hit a hospital on the northern edge of the enclave, wounding medical staff and damaging equipment, Palestinian medics said on Saturday.
Among the dead were seven members of one family whose house was hit overnight in the Zeitoun suburb of Gaza City, the health officials said. The rest were killed in separate Israeli strikes in central and southern Gaza.
At the same time, Israeli forces deepened their incursion and bombardment of the northern edge of the enclave, their main offensive since early last month.
A spokesperson for Hamas said a female Israeli prisoner in the group’s custody had been killed in a northern area under attack by Israeli forces.
“The life of another female prisoner who used to be with her remains in imminent danger,” spokesperson Abu Ubaida added, blaming the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
An Israeli military spokesperson said it was investigating the Hamas report.
Depopulating area
Local residents say they fear the Israeli goal is to permanently depopulate a strip of territory as a buffer zone, something Israel denies.
At Kamal Adwan Hospital, one of three medical facilities on the northern edge of Gaza that is barely operational, director Hussam Abu Safiya said the ongoing Israeli bombardment in the area appeared aimed at forcing hospital staff to evacuate — something they have refused to do since the incursion began.
The 13-month attacks by Israeli forces in Gaza killed more than 44,000 people and displaced nearly all the enclave’s population at least once, according to Gaza officials.
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024
PESHAWAR/BAJAUR: Three terrorists were killed in two separate security operations in Khyber and South Waziristan district, while a policeman and a local elder were martyred in roadside bomb explosions in Bajaur tribal district on Saturday, military and police sources said.
A statement issued by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Saturday read that the security forces carried out an intelligence-based operation in the Bara tehsil of Khyber district, adding that the security forces effectively engaged the terrorists’ location and killed two of them, including Haqyar Afridi alias Khyberay and Gulla Jan, during the IBO.
The military’s media wing said that in another exchange of fire, security forces picked up movement of a group of terrorists who were trying to infiltrate through Pakistan-Afghanistan border in South Waziristan district.
It read that the security forces effectively engaged and thwarted their attempt to infiltrate, adding that one terrorist was killed and three others were wounded.
“Pakistan has consistently been asking the interim Afghan government to ensure effective border management on their side of the border,” the official statement read, adding that the interim Afghan government was expected to fulfil its obligations and deny the use of Afghan soil by terrorists for perpetuating acts of militancy against Pakistan.
“Security forces of Pakistan are determined and remain committed to secure its border and eliminate the menace of terrorism from the country,” the ISPR stated.
In Bajaur district, a police personnel and a local elder were killed, while a child was wounded in two separate roadside bomb explosions in Mamund tehsil of Bajaur tribal district on Saturday.
Residents and police told Dawn that an elderly man Malik Asghar Khan was passing through the Erab area at around 8.55am when the roadside bomb exploded. The victim died before being shifted to nearby hospital, said SHO Zarif Khan of Lowi Mamund police station.
The officer said it was an improvised explosive device (IED), planted by unidentified miscreants, for sabotage purpose. He said that a team of police personnel immediately rushed to the blast site to shift the victim’s body and collect evidence from the scene.
According to police and locals, the second explosion occurred in Meana area at 9am, claiming the life of a policeman, Ihsanullah, 37, and wounding his seven-year-old son.
While confirming the incident, SP investigations Naveed Iqbal told reporters that the cop was heading to Kamar Sar area for duty when the blast took place near his native Meana locality.
SP Iqbal said investigations of both the explosions were underway to ascertain their motive and trace those behind it. He disclosed that both blasts were carried out with IEDs.
No one has claimed responsibility of both incidents in the same district where a JI local leader, Mohammad Hamid, was killed in a targeted attack on Nov 14.
Meanwhile, people from different walks of life, especially the elders and political leaders here on Saturday expressed their deep condemnation over the two fatal explosions in the region killing a policeman and a local elder.
In separate statements and posts shared on social media, they demanded that the police trace those involved in the “inhuman acts” at the earliest and prevent such incidents.
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024
COMMERCIAL banks have been busy lending large amounts of money at below-the-market rates these last few weeks. They aren’t doing so because they suddenly find themselves flushed with excess liquidity. Nor has the economy turned a page, spurring demand for credit for investments in productivity. There is a method to this madness.
The banks are on a lending spree to increase their advance-to-deposit ratio (ADR) — a measure of the proportion of a bank’s total deposits that are given as loans or advances — above 50 per cent to avoid a punitive FBR tax of up to 16pc on the lenders with an ADR under 50pc.
The banks are lending to both large public and private entities at discounted rates, which are then investing this money in government debt, earning a spread of 2-4pc. This allows the lenders to avoid the ADR tax but only after forgoing a significant portion of their revenues to the borrowers. The entire lending is for the short term, and the money will return to banks after Dec 31, the tax deadline.
The banking industry sources claim that most lenders have already managed to achieve the targeted ADR of above 50pc. Overall, the industry ADR is said to have already shot up to 44pc from 39pc on Sept 27. Banks’ lending surged by Rs1.1 trillion in October, marking a record-breaking increase.
Critics argue the policy fails to boost private-sector lending and undermines savings
However, heavy, short-term cheaper lending is not the only strategy being pursued by the banks to avoid the ADR tax; they are also discouraging deposits to ensure that those don’t bring down their advance-to-deposit ratios, exposing them to the tax payment they have painstakingly been striving to dodge the FBR.
Most banks have notified their clients that they will charge a monthly fee of 5pc on high-balance accounts ranging from Rs1bn to Rs5bn and above, with each bank setting its own minimum threshold according to their respective customer profiles, to hedge against incoming large deposits and upending the ADR before the tax deadline.
This applies to both rupee and foreign currency accounts and has led the bank deposits to fall from Rs31.14tr on Sept 30 to Rs30.4tr by Oct 25. Some banks have also applied maximum daily credit balance limits on the checking accounts.
“The bank has the right to refuse and/or to return the amount over and above the said limit,” according to a notice sent out by an Islamic bank to its customers.
“This signals growing tensions between regulatory policies aimed at encouraging lending to the private sector and operational strategies of the banks seeking to safeguard their profitability,” an analyst wrote recently.
Media reports suggest the amount of cash deposits could be further slashed in case the ADR remains below 50pc at the end of the calendar year.
Thwarting FBR
That’s not the only strategy being adopted by the banks to thwart the FBR. Several banks have already sought and received court injunctions preventing the FBR from collecting this levy unless the cases are decided. Banks have taken the stand that it’s beyond the FBR’s mandate to dictate how banks deploy their deposits or how their balance sheets should look, as it is the prerogative of the industry regulator: the State Bank of Pakistan.
A petition highlights that the FBR is seeking to tax the income earned by banking companies from investments made in government securities by prescribing the tax rate based on the gross advance-to-deposit ratio.
“In doing so, the FBR is seeking to regulate the banking business, which falls beyond the scope of a Money Bill and is consequently ultra vires (beyond the scope of) Article 73 of the Constitution,” reads the petition filed with the Islamabad High Court.
The ADR-linked tax was levied ostensibly to encourage banks to provide financing to the private sector borrowers to spur growth rather than “funnelling liquidity only into government debt to make easy bucks”.
The SBP report in 2022, however, indicated that banks’ incentive to enhance deposit mobilisation and asset and liabilities management strategy could also have been affected by the ADR-linked tax policy.
“This forced lending approach significantly impairs and undermines the credit underwriting standards of banks,” the CFO of a major bank argues.
ADR tax in totality is meaningless, he argues. The way it is structured “is flawed when you talk about ADR taxation… You are taking refuge behind that you want to encourage private sector lending, but this needle has not moved even an inch,” he says.
“The banks can at the end of the year move deposits to ensure their ADR remains above the tax threshold, and public sector companies, etc., are also part of the private sector lending for ADR calculation,” he adds.
‘Market distortions’
Speaking with Dawn, Pakistan Banks’ Association Chairman Zafar Masud highlights several market distortions created by the contentious tax. “The lenders are ready to pay their taxes; in fact, they are already in the highest tax bracket in the country, and in the region. The problem arises when you start charging us for something not related to income,” he says.
“The ADR tax is proposed to be imposed on banks’ balance sheet items and not income. It is very much possible that a bank is making losses but will have to pay this tax because of lower ADR. This is unjustified.
The bankers are willing to sit across the table with the government to contribute to the public exchequer in the largest interest and benefit of the economy as long as it’s related to their income but not on the balance sheet,” Mr Masud says.
Moreover, he explains that since it is calculated at the end of the year, the banks discourage deposits or increase their lending assets through pyramiding by giving money to large firms at below-the-market rates to maintain their ADRs to avoid this tax. “This benefits the borrowers while banks take losses.
This does not serve the purpose as it doesn’t increase private sector borrowing,” he says.
Mr Masud points out that it’s not just the ADR calculation but what constitutes ‘private sector lending’. “The public sector entities, microfinance institutions, asset managers, state-owned enterprises, and so on also fall in this category. In fact, banks manage their ADR through lending to these big borrowers. If the objective was to prompt banks to boost private credit, the policy is clearly not working.”
This year, a new problem has arisen for banks due to excessive government borrowings, reducing their ADRs. On top of that, the implementation of the MDR (Minimum Deposit Rate) condition — implemented by the SBP in 2008 to encourage private savings — is restricting the lenders from deploying their assets due to higher returns than interest rates. “Consequently, banks are refusing deposits, so your objective of increasing savings is also defeated,” Mr Masud adds.
Lack of reliable data
Mr Masud also contends that systemic issues hinder private-sector lending. With over half of the economy undocumented, banks lack reliable data to assess borrowers’ creditworthiness. “Proxy data from telcos and utilities also doesn’t exist to help us assess incomes of borrowers,” he says. “First, businesses must be prepared to document themselves, and then we will see a massive shift in financing, perhaps.”
Responding to banks’ appetite for risk-free lending to the government, he replies that nearly 85pc of the budget deficit is being financed by banks. “Actually, this is a big service we are doing… Instead of appreciating us, you are penalising us. The day the government fixes its deficit problem, banks will automatically be forced to lend to the private sector.”
An official of a multinational bank argues that “banks are not trying to be cute” by demanding the removal of the ADR tax. “We want to pay taxes. But it should be on our income. We are very happy to sit with the government and discuss the issue so that its side effects and distortions in the market are removed.”
Banks say they are not asking to revoke MDR altogether but want it to be rationalised by taking corporates, state-owned enterprises, and financial institutions out of its regime to force them to reinvest their liquidity rather than take advantage of MDR rules to earn profits.
“The banks are totally in favour of keeping MDR on individuals to promote a culture of savings and investment in the country.
While hedging against incoming deposits, the banks have taken care that only large customers — government and public and private corporations — are levied fee while small savers are kept protected,” the CFO quoted above argues.
Bankers say that at the end of the day, the government will be unable to collect tax, increase savings or boost private lending. But it will end up distorting the market, choking the balance sheets of banks and pushing up borrowing costs through such regulatory measures as ADR and MDR.
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024
HYDERABAD: Farmers of Sindh’s southern region have vowed to oppose the six canals proposed to be built on the Indus River in Punjab’s Cholistan area, saying the project would render their lands “completely barren”.
They staged a rally under the aegis of Anti-Canals Action Committee, a conglomerate of three growers’ bodies — Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB), Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) and Sindh Abadgar Ittehad (SAI). Sindh United Party’s Sindh United Abadgar Forum is also part of the group.
The protesters said that new canals, approved by the Central Development Working Party, undermined the survival of millions of people living in Sindh.
SAB president Mahmood Nawaz Shah said growers were protesting “for the sake of this country and Sindh”.
He questioned the wisdom behind the canals to irrigate lands in the Cholistan desert. “You will build canals to irrigate the desert and convert fertile lands into desert. What is the logic behind it?” he asked. Mr Shah questioned the use of surplus water for these canals and said Sindh’s water issues date back to 150 years old and not 1935. He claimed British colonists had conceded that more lands used to be cultivated in Sindh than in Punjab.
He said growers would not back “illegal initiatives” and questioned the approval granted by those “who take oath on the holy book to remain loyal to the country”.
SCA’s Miran Mohammad Shah called upon Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, whose PPP is an ally of the federal government, to lead the farmers’ protest like his mother Benazir Bhutto did.
He was alluding to the protest against Kalabagh Dam led by Ms Bhutto in August 1998 in Ubauro, Ghotki.
‘No compromise on water’
Mr Shah said this was the issue for the entire country, not only Sindh or Punjab.
He urged the urban population, especially the residents of Karachi, to “realise the gravity of the situation” because K-IV, being built to supply water to the city from the Kotri barrage, wouldn’t serve the purpose if the barrage did not receive water.
Mr Miran said he was at a loss to understand whether policymakers lacked wisdom or were indifferent to the fact that water flow downstream of Kotri Barrage remained zero in normal conditions.
If these canals were built, everything would turn barren in Sindh, he added.
SAI president Zubair Talpur condemned the project and asked about the fate of existing lands in Sindh if new lands were to be cultivated in a desert.
He said Sindh was already complaining that it was not getting its share of water in line with the Water Accord of 1991.
SCA vice president Nabi Bux Sathio shared statistics from the Indus River System Authority, which showed Sindh had borne more water shortage (40pc) than Punjab (15pc) between 1999-2023.
He said the federal government should spend Rs240 billion on the Diamer-Bhasha dam instead of the Cholistan canal, which would “destroy 12m acres of agricultural lands in Sindh for the sake of irrigating 1.2m acres of Cholistan desert”.
Syed Zain Shah, who is convener of Sindhu Darya Bachayao Committee, said Sindh would witness migration in 10 years when water is diverted for these six canals from the Indus River.
He claimed that the new canals would “destroy” Sindh and, therefore, the federation “must take a wise decision and shelve this project”.
Bashir Shah of the Sindh Untied Abadgar Forum said the province would never compromise on three issues — language, homeland and water.
He also requested the president to withdraw the decision taken in the July 8 meeting.
Others who addressed the protest included Syed Nadeem Shah, Zahid Bhurgari, Mir Zafarullah, Mohib Marri, Zulfikar Yousfani and former advocate general Sindh Yusuf Leghari. Mr Leghari urged the lawyers’ bodies to boycott courts once in a week to sensitise the judiciary about the issue.
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024
ISLAMABAD: The National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) issued an alert for possible terrorist attacks during the PTI’s march towards Islamabad, reliable sources told Dawn.
PTI is set to kick off its protests today (Sunday), for which extra security personnel have already been deployed in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and several districts of Punjab.
According to sources, the alert was issued after “technical and human” intelligence gathered by the apex counter-terrorism body revealed that terrorists were planning “major activities” in big cities of Pakistan.
Multiple sources confirmed “necessary preparations” by the terrorists in Afghanistan, who “entered into Pakistan” on the night between Nov 19 and 20. They were expected to station themselves in big cities, the sources added.
The terrorists, whom the government and the military refer to as Fitna-al-Khawarij, will possibly target the PTI’s protest “for their vested interest”, as per the sources.
The Nacta has suggested authorities ensure extreme vigilance and heighten security measures to prevent the attack.
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024
ISLAMABAD: Amid official warning and stringent measures put in place by the government to thwart the PTI’s protest on Sunday, the party is all set to hold its much-hyped march towards Islamabad as Imran Khan called on the masses to unite to “break the shackles of slavery”.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi warned PTI that no sit-in or protest would be permitted in Islamabad during the visit of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko starting with a delegation arriving in the capital on Sunday.
The minister contacted PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali to emphasise the government’s commitment to enforcing the Islamabad High Court’s order banning public gatherings over the weekend.
The PTI accused the government of turning the country into a “war zone” in an attempt to stifle “peaceful protests”. In a statement, a PTI spokesperson stressed that peaceful protest was a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution. “The nation remains resolute in exercising the right despite the incumbent government’s incessant threats, intimidation and attempts to convert the country into a war zone through massive troop deployments and containerisation,” he said, referring to the use of shipping containers to block roads and highways.
The PTI also criticised the government for curbing freedoms, alleging it has stripped citizens of their rights to movement, trade, employment and communication.
Responding to comments by Information Minister Atta Tarar, the PTI spokesperson said, “The 240 million people of this country are fed up with their self-centred and incompetent masters, who have ruined the country economically, socially and politically during the past two-and-a-half years.”
The spokesperson also condemned what he called the government’s open threats and intimidation tactics against young people, traders, teachers, students, transporters and government officials.
However, he said people would not be deterred by threats, insisting that this “peaceful protest” would mark the beginning of true constitutional governance and that the government would be responsible for any riots and anarchy.
‘Shackles of slavery’
Imran Khan urged the masses to come together on Nov 24 to “break the shackles of slavery” and emphasised that people must decide whether to live under oppression like Bahadur Shah Zafar or fight for freedom like Tipu Sultan.
According to a statement shared by PTI’s media wing, Mr Khan stressed that he had excellent relations with Saudi Arabia, highlighting the strong support he received from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
He dismissed claims his wife, Bushra Bibi, in her statement had criticised Saudi Arabia.
He reiterated that Sunday’s protest was aimed at restoring democracy, rule of law and human rights.
“The rule of law, Constitution and human rights are suspended in Pakistan, forcing the nation to come out to protest and make sacrifices,” Mr Khan said.
Warning against sit-in Interior Minister Naqvi contacted Barrister Gohar to stress the government’s commitment to enforcing the IHC’s order banning rallies over the weekend and warned that no sit-in or protest would be permitted in Islamabad during Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko’s visit.
Mr Naqvi pointed out that an 80-member delegation from Belarus would be landing in the capital today (Sunday) while President Lukashenko would arrive on Monday on a three-day visit.
While sources in the interior ministry claimed Mr Naqvi had contacted Barrister Gohar and was waiting for his reply regarding calling off the protest, the latter, in a televised interview denied any such development.
“Mohsin Naqvi contacted me and requested to reconsider the protest, but let me clarify that I did not commit that I will get back to him after consultation with the party. Imran Khan has given the call of the protest and only he can withdraw it.”
Last week, Imran Khan issued a “final call” for the protest on Nov 24, condemning alleged electoral fraud, unjust detentions and the recently passed 26th amendment.
In a recent video message, Ms Bibi said the protest would only be called off if Mr Khan was released and announced the decision himself.
Travel chaos
Punjab in general and Lahore in particular came to a grinding halt on Saturday after the entire intercity bus operation — particularly routes leading to Islamabad and Rawalpindi — were suspended.
Those commuting to and from Lahore daily for work faced terrible inconvenience after they found all major roads and intercity bus terminals closed.
Even those travelling on personal transport also faced great difficulties in exiting or entering the provincial capital.
The security at Lahore railway station was beefed up after a huge number of passengers thronged it in a bid to reach to their destinations.
Most functions, especially the wedding parties coming from various cities to Shahdara, Kasur, Phoolnagar and Sheikhupura failed to reach Lahore, forcing the families to cancel the events.
Iftikhar A. Khan also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024
KURRAM / PESHAWAR: At least 21 people were killed in overnight reprisal, arson attacks and gunfight in Kurram district, two days after an ambush on a convoy of vehicles left over 40 people dead, taking the death toll in three days of violence to 64.
The fresh rampage took place early on Saturday, when the provincial law minister, inspector general of police, chief secretary and other top officials of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government were present in the restive district.
According to officials, armed groups opened fire, ransacked public buildings, looted markets and set fire to checkpoints, houses and shops.
“The situation was out of control. There was complete mayhem,” said an official, requesting not to be named.
Sources said armed groups from the district headquarters of Parachinar stormed Bagan Bazaar and surrounding villages in Lower Kurram late Friday night.
It led to a heavy exchange of fire between rival groups, which left over 30 people wounded.
Sporadic gunfire continued between the two sides at different places in Lower Kurram till Saturday evening.
Officials said reports of intermittent firing were also received from Upper Kurram, but the situation there was largely under control. The warring sides were holding hostages, including women and children, and refusing to hand over the bodies, the officials confirmed.
Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, the KP CM’s adviser on Information, told Dawn that negotiations were underway to secure the release of hostages and retrieve the bodies and wounded.
The attacks have forced locals to flee their homes and escape to nearby areas of Thall and Hangu.
‘Firing on helicopter’
On Saturday, Law Minister Aftab Alam Afridi, KP police chief Akhtar Hayat Khan, chief secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, Barrister Saif, Kohat commissioner and regional police officer arrived in Kurram via helicopter.
Unconfirmed media reports claimed the helicopter came under fire from unknown assailants, and a statement was issued from the KP governor’s office condemning the alleged incident.
However, the law minister denied the attack.
“No such incident has occurred. The news of the firing on the helicopter is false. The government delegation, including me, is safe,” he said while talking to Dawn.com.
Sajid Hussain Turi, former PPP MNA from Kurram, who was one of the passengers, also denied the attack.
In Kurram, the delegation held negotiations with elders and other stakeholders, Mr Alam said, adding that the biggest point of contention was land disputes.
Talking to Dawn.com after the meeting, he said the provincial government has decided to constitute a commission to settle these disputes.
He acknowledges that similar committees formed in the past had failed to resolve these disputes as they were “not acceptable to any of the parties”.
“This time, the commission will be formed according to the wishes of the parties,” he assured, adding that the commission will present its report to the chief minister.
Mr Alam said land disputes among various groups in Kurram were presented as sectarian riots which was incorrect.
“A report will be made about all the incidents taking place in Kurram and presented to the chief minister and other senior officials,” he said.
Barrister Saif said the government delegation held a jirga with district elders on Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur’s instructions.
“Efforts are being made to resolve all issues amicably to end the tension. Detailed meetings were held with Shia leaders today; positive discussions were held to resolve the issues. Meetings will also be held with Sunni leaders in the next phase,” he said.
CM urges for ceasefire
A press release issued by the CM’s office said he held a meeting via video link with the government delegation after the jirga and reviewed the current situation in the district while being briefed on today’s developments, Dawn.com reported.
“The provincial government is making serious efforts for a peaceful and sustainable solution to the Kurram conflict. I am personally monitoring the situation in Kurram,” CM Gandapur said, adding that Thursday’s incident was “extremely regrettable and condemnable”. He stressed that a ceasefire in the area was indispensable to move towards resolving the conflict and urged all parties to exercise restraint so that progress could be made towards ending current tensions.
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024
NEW YORK: President-elect Donald Trump, who also made his name in the world of reality TV, is now looking to stars of the small screen to handpick ultra-loyal celebrity newscasters and hosts to staff his incoming administration.
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to run the Pentagon, plies his trade on Fox News during the weekend, while the billionaire’s choice to oversee the sprawling public insurance system is none other than TV medic “Dr Oz”.
Trump’s education secretary will be Linda McMahon, a long-time star and executive of the staged and scripted WWE wrestling brand, whereas Sean Duffy, an MTV reality star turned Fox Business host, will run the transportation department.
Alongside Hegseth and Duffy at the cabinet table will be Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar” tasked with overseeing the promised mass expulsion of undocumented migrants, who became a vocal defender of Trump’s immigration policies on Fox after his stint leading the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency during Trump’s first term.
Fox News declined to comment.
Reality TV talent pool ‘plundered’ for top jobs
However, his announced choices other than stars of the small screen for some key positions include Marco Rubio.
State secretary, NSA
Trump tapped US Senator Marco Rubio to be his secretary of state, putting the Florida-born politician on track to be the first Latino to serve as the United States’ top diplomat.
Rubio, 53, was arguably the most hawkish option on Trump’s shortlist for secretary of state. The senator has in past years advocated for a muscular foreign policy with respect to US geopolitical foes, including China, Iran and Cuba.
Trump also picked Mike Waltz, a Republican US representative, to be national security adviser. Waltz, 50, a retired Army Green Beret, has criticised Chinese activity in the Asia-Pacific and voiced the need for the US to be ready for a potential conflict in the region.
The national security adviser is a powerful role that does not require Senate confirmation.
Trump picked former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi on the day his previous choice Matt Gaetz withdrew from consideration in the face of opposition from Senate Republicans over his past conduct. Bondi was the top law enforcement officer of the third most populous state from 2011 to 2019.
Trump’s inner circle has described the attorney general as the most important member of the administration after Trump himself.
Besides, Trump named Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic representative and critic of the Biden administration, as his director of national intelligence. If confirmed, she would become the top official in the US intelligence community after Trump starts his second term in January.
Trump chose former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental activist who has spread misinformation about the dangers of vaccines, to lead the top health agency.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has been picked to serve as the next homeland security secretary, Trump said. Noem, 52, rose to national prominence after refusing to impose a mask mandate during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Musk, Ramaswamy
Trump named tech billionaire Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a newly created Department of Government Efficiency, rewarding two of his well-known supporters from the private sector.
Trump said Musk, 53, and Ramaswamy, 39, would reduce government bureaucracy and restructure federal agencies.
Howard Lutnick, 63, the co-chair of Trump’s transition effort and the longtime chief executive of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, has been picked to head the commerce department.
Also, Trump announced he had appointed Lee Zeldin, a staunch Trump ally and former congressman from New York state, as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
He announced that Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff, Elise Stefanik as ambassador to the UN, John Ratcliffe as CIA director and Todd Blanche as deputy attorney general.
Among the contenders for the key position of treasury secretary are Kevin Warsh, Marc Rowan, Bill Hagerty, Scott Bessent, Robert Lighthizer.
On the other hand, Kash Patel, 44, is potential candidate for national security posts or FBI director.
A former Republican House staffer who served in various high-ranking staff roles in the defence and intelligence communities during Trump’s first term, Kash Patel frequently appeared on the campaign trail to rally support for Trump in his latest presidential bid.
Any position requiring Senate confirmation may be a challenge, however.
During Trump’s first term, Patel, seen as the ultimate Trump loyalist, drew animosity from some more experienced national security officials, who saw him as volatile and too eager to please the then-president.
Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2024
QUETTA / PESHAWAR: Seven terrorists were killed by security forces in operations across Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the military’s media wing claimed on Friday.
Four terrorists were killed in three separate operations in Balochistan between Wednesday and Friday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement said.
Two terrorists were gunned down in an operation conducted in Awaran district. The “high-value” targets were identified as Niaz alias Ghuman and Zareef alias Shah Jahan.
The other two terrorists were gunned down during operations in Dera Bugti and Kech districts.
The deceased terrorists were “wanted by the law enforcement agencies” for their involvement in attacks against security forces and civilians, the ISPR statement added.
Operation in KP
In KP, three terrorists were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in Bannu district on Friday morning, the military’s media wing said.
The ISPR statement said an intelligence-based operation was carried out on the reported presence of militants in the area.
The forces “effectively engaged” the terrorists’ location during the operation and killed three of them. Two terrorists were also injured.
The statement added that weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from the possession of terrorists, who were “actively involved” in attacks against security forces and civilians.
A sanitisation operation was being carried out to eliminate any other terrorists found in the area, the ISPR added.
Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2024
KABUL: Ten people were killed in a gun attack on a Sufi shrine in Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan province, an interior ministry spokesman told AFP on Friday.
“A man fired on Sufis taking part in a weekly ritual at a shrine in a remote area of Nahrin district, killing 10 people,” the ministry’s Abdul Matin Qani said.
A Nahrin resident, who knew victims of the attack, told AFP that worshippers had gathered at the Sayed Pacha Agha shrine on Thursday evening.
They had begun a Sufi chant when “a man shot at the dozen worshippers”, he said on condition of anonymity.
“When people arrived for morning prayers, they discovered the bodies,” he added.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.
Attacks regularly target Sufis during rituals or gatherings in Afghanistan. The attacks have continued since the Taliban took over the country in 2021 and vowed to restore security to the war-torn nation.
In September, the the Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) claimed responsibility for an attack in central Afghanistan that killed 14 people who had gathered to welcome pilgrims returning from the holy site of Karbala in Iraq.
Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2024
BEIRUT: Israeli forces pounded southern Lebanon and the outskirts of Beirut on Friday, crumpling an 11-storey building and killing at least five medics as ground troops attempted to advance in the south.
Also, medics in the Palestinian territory said an overnight Israeli raid on Beit Lahia and nearby Jabalia resulted in dozens killed or missing.
Israel has pushed on with its intense military action in Gaza and southern Lebanon, a day after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant in response to accusations of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Five medics from a rescue force were killed in Israeli strikes on two villages in southern Lebanon on Friday, according to the Lebanese health ministry said. More than 3,580 people have been killed in Lebanon, most of them since late September, the ministry added. Among them, were over 200 medics.
Death toll in Gaza rises to 44,056 despite ICC warrant against Netanyahu, Gallant
Earlier, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories said: “The delivery of critical aid across Gaza, including food, water, fuel and medical supplies, is grinding to a halt.”
At least 44,056 people have been killed in Gaza during more than 13 months of war, most of them civilians, according to figures from Gaza’s health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.
Also, four Italian soldiers were injured after two rockets exploded at a UNIFIL peacekeeping force base in southern Lebanon, a spokesperson for UNIFIL said on Friday.
The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said Israeli warplanes carried out successive rounds of strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs from early morning until evening, including on two buildings closer to the city centre.
TV footage showed plumes of smoke over the southern suburbs. NNA said Israeli strikes also hit multiple areas around Tyre.
An AFP photographer captured the moment a missile struck an 11-storey building housing shops, a gym and apartments on a usually busy street in south Beirut’s Shiyah district. The impact sparked a fireball and caused the structure to collapse in on itself, littering the street with debris.
In south Lebanon, NNA said Israeli troops entered the village of Deir Mimas, some 2.5km from the border. “Enemy reconnaissance aircraft” were flying over the village, warning people “not to leave their homes”, it said. Most of the village’s population had already fled.
Abeer Darwich, a resident of the building that was hit in Beirut southern suburbs who had left her apartment before the attack, stood watching while an Israeli strike pounded the high-rise building into dust.
Meanwhile, at least six Israeli soldiers have taken their own lives in recent months, the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reports, citing severe psychological distress caused by prolonged wars in Gaza and Lebanon as the primary cause, according to an Al Jazeera report.
The actual number of suicides may be far higher because the Israeli military has yet to release official figures despite a promise to do so by the end of the year.
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Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2024
LONDON: Bitcoin touched a fresh record high on Friday, with its sights set firmly on the $100,000 barrier, in a stellar rally for the cryptocurrency sparked by expectations of a friendly regulatory environment under a Donald Trump administration.
It has more than doubled in value this year and is up about 45pc since Trump’s sweeping election victory on Nov 5, which has also seen a slew of pro-crypto lawmakers being elected to Congress.
The cryptocurrency’s gains though were more measured on Friday. After touching a fresh record high above $99,000, bitcoin pulled back a touch to trade up just 0.5 per cent on the day, around $98,500.
Still, the momentum for further gains appeared strong with bitcoin poised for a third straight week of plus 10pc gains. It is also on track for its best monthly performance since February.
Its surge has made bitcoin one of the stand-out winners of so-called “Trump trades” — assets that are seen as winning or losing from Trump’s policies.
The cryptocurrency also appears on the cusp of mainstream acceptance since its creation 16 years ago.
“The longer it survives it is taken more seriously, that’s just the reality of things,” said Shane Oliver, chief economist and head of investment strategy at AMP Sydney.
“As an economist and investor I find it very hard to value it… it’s anyone’s guess. But it does have a momentum aspect to it and at the moment the momentum is up.” Indeed, bitcoin is up around 130pc this year.
Trump embraced digital assets during his campaign, promising to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet” and to accumulate a national stockpile of bitcoin.
More than $4 billion has streamed into US-listed bitcoin exchange-traded funds since the election.
Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2024
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif constituted a committee to ensure cooperation in political and other matters, and to resolve the issues between PML-N and PPP.
The members of the committee include Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Law Minister Azam Nazeer, and Minister for Economic Affairs Ahmad Khan Cheema.
Other members include Amir Muqam, Rana Sanaullah, Malik Ahmad Khan, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Saad Rafique, Jaffer Mandokhel and Bashir Memon.
The PM has tasked the committee with the responsibility of resolving issues after detailed consultations with the ruling ally, PPP.
Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2024
LAHORE: In a fresh sign of relations between the two coalition partners hitting a new low, Punjab Governor Saleem Haider, who is affiliated with the PPP, on Friday complained that they were not being taken on board by the ruling PML-N in the decision-making process.
Governor Haider, who had earlier been venting out his anger through statements and by delaying the appointment of vice-chancellors to universities, this time expressed his frustration during a meeting with the participants of a security workshop being organised by the Islamabad-based National Defence University in the provincial capital.
“Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has become an empress. She never calls or consults me on issues of merit,” he claimed, while referring to the appointment of vice-chancellors.
“I won’t meet Maryam Nawaz now,” he declared.
Saleem Haider says PPP’s experience of joining hands with PML-N ‘bitter’
Highlighting PPP’s support for the rulers, the governor said the PML-N government “will come to its knees” if PPP withdrew its support.
Alleging that merit is being violated in Punjab, he emphasised that as an ally, PPP should be consulted in all governance matters.
The governor pointed out that notwithstanding his constitutional office and protocol, he himself went to meet Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and tried to assure her that PPP would not create any problem for her.
“Over the past six months, I tried to contact her repeatedly by phone, but got zero response as she never consulted on any issue. So now I won’t meet her,” he said.
The governor said that the relationship between the two parties had reached a stalemate in Punjab and he had informed the PPP’s top leadership about the situation.
He recalled that the experience of forming a coalition with the PML-N was bitter in the past too. “Written agreements were reached and advisory committees were formed, but decisions were never implemented.”
Mr Haider said PPP expected that PML-N might have learned lessons from the past, adding that the current alliance was not out of love but of compulsion.
Meanwhile, PPP’s vice president in Punjab, Rana Farooq Saeed, told a press conference that he would demand the annulment of the alliance in the forthcoming meeting of the party’s central executive committee.
He said PPP members were opposed to any alliance with PML-N, because the party never fulfilled any promises. “How long will we drag along? Something needs to be done now.”
Flanked by Azizur Rehman Chan and Bushra Manzoor Maneka, he said PPP had maintained a tradition of taking on board all provinces in key decision-making, but PML-N was constructing a canal on River Indus without seeking consent of other federating units.
He said that PML-N must take its allies into confidence over economic reforms as one-sided decisions would not yield positive results.
Relations between the two parties went sour soon after the passage of the 26th Amendment. Recently, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari went public with complaints about PML-N.
Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2024
ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan on Friday stated that his wife Bushra Bibi’s statement a day earlier was deliberately taken out of context to draw “our brotherly country KSA” into a needless controversy as she didn’t mention Saudi Arabia at all.
Other PTI leaders also regretted her statement’s negative characterisation.
In a post on X, the ex-prime minister maintained that Bushra Bibi had no connection with politics and she had only conveyed his message to the masses regarding the party’s Nov 24 protest.
“I have excellent relations with Saudi Arabia. When I was attacked in Wazirabad, one of the first calls I received was, through the embassy from HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Saudi Arabia has always stood by us in difficult times,” he wrote.
The PTI’s founding chairman recalled that “only two weeks prior to our government being toppled, we held a very successful OIC foreign ministers’ conference in Islamabad, which would have been impossible to do had Saudi Arabia not supported and stood with us”.
Mr Khan claimed that his government was toppled through conspiracies, all orchestrated by then-army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and that he had tried to have those [conspiracies] investigated through the then chief justice and Gen Tariq Khan, but Gen Bajwa did not allow that to happen.
KP government spokesperson Barrister Mohammed Ali Saif said Bushra Bibi did not say Gen Bajwa was called by the Saudi Crown Prince or the [Saudi] government, and did not make any accusations against them.
“Mohammed bin Salman and Imran Khan have an ideal relationship which the fake government is trying to damage.”
Mr Saif alleged that the purpose of “exaggerating Bushra Bibi’s statement” was to divert attention from the Nov 24 protest.
In a post on X, party Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram said PTI viewed the relationship with Saudi Arabia with great respect and dignity and wanted to further expand on the “brotherly and friendly” relations.
“Bushra Bibi did not directly or indirectly name the leadership or government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in her message, nor is there any possibility of doing so.
“Rather, she pointed to the characters whose chief was General Qamar Javed Bajwa who were active against an elected democratic government internally and externally and who created an environment…at the local and international levels to pave the way for the regime change project,” Mr Akram said.
He said PTI condemned the attempt by the “mandate-thief government”, which is afraid of PTI’s nationwide protests on Nov 24, to use the brotherly Islamic country as a source of baseless rumours in view of nefarious political goals.
“The only aim of the efforts to distort a specific part of the video message of Imran’s wife and to create a narrative on the media and social media based on it at the expense of state resources is to support their declining reputation and government by putting Pakistan’s diplomatic interests at stake,” he alleged.
He said the campaign against Bushra Bibi was “nothing new”, alleging that not only had the government been previously making her a target of accusations but it had also “woven a web of false cases against her, out of which her innocence has been proven in court in all major cases”.
Another PTI leader Raoof Hassan said during a TV show that conspiracies had started against Imran Khan since he landed in Saudi Arabia barefooted.
It may be recalled that Bushra Bibi on Thursday claimed that some foreign powers were unhappy over Imran Khan’s religious posture of walking barefoot in Madina. She said that after the ex-PM returned home, then-army chief Bajwa had begun receiving calls of disapproval. She didn’t specify who made the calls.
Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2024
ISLAMABAD / D.G. KHAN: A day after Bushra Bibi’s statement kicked up a storm, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday termed the remarks an “unforgivable crime”, declaring that no one would be allowed to “spew venom” against friendly states.
“The government will take strict action on any negative remarks against Saudi Arabia,” PM Shehbaz said while addressing the inauguration ceremony of the Restoration of Kachhi Canal damaged by the 2022 floods.
He recounted Saudi Arabia’s history of unconditionally and fully helping out Pakistan through various difficult times — no matter who held power in Islamabad — in many ways and on fronts without asking anything in return, including recent negotiations with the International Monetary Fund.
“I will, unfortunately, have to mention some events here because … a statement has come out yesterday, which I think there can be no greater enmity against Pakistan than this that you spew venom against the country that has never demanded anything in return and always opened its doors for Pakistan,” PM Shehbaz said in an apparent reference to Bushra Bibi’s remarks.
PTI founding chairman’s wife on Thursday claimed some foreign powers were unhappy over Imran Khan’s religious posture of walking barefoot in Madina. She said after he returned home, then-army chief Qamar Bajwa started receiving calls in which ex-PM’s posture was criticised. She didn’t specify who made the calls.
The prime minister in his speech warned: “It is an unforgivable crime that you spew venom [against Saudi Arabia]. I want to announce as the prime minister that any hand that becomes an obstacle in the friendship between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the nation will break those hands.
“This is not a joke. What will they think? Such an allegation has been made that no one could even imagine. Seeds of hate are being sown for short-term political interest. What political interest is this that is sacrificing Pakistan’s highest interest?”
PM Shehbaz declared that no one would be allowed to play with the country’s interests when it came to brotherly allies such as Saudi Arabia.
“During my recent visits, the Saudi government talked about significant investment in Pakistan. Agreements were made in this regard,” he pointed out.
When Pakistan became a nuclear power, Saudi Arabia gave free oil despite global sanctions, he further said, adding that the facility continued even during the reign of General Musharraf.
He said those “spreading such poison in society” had no idea of its consequences and negative effects.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz while condemning Bushra Bibi’s remarks labelled them as an attack on Pakistan’s most trusted ally.
The chief minister was staggered at how a “non-political individual” could harm Pakistan’s foreign relations.
“It is shocking that a domestic figure with no political involvement made such baseless accusations against a nation that has always supported us in difficult times,” she added.
‘Diminishing politics’
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif while addressing a presser in Islamabad termed Bushra Bibi’s statement “a failed attempt to save the PTI’s diminishing politics”.
He described her remarks as “regrettable and dirty acts”.
“Over 2.8 million Pakistanis are working in Saudi Arabia who send billions of dollars in remittances back home every year,” he added.
The minister said, “Our cordial and friendly relationship with Saudi Arabia should not be affected due to someone’s personal political gains. Such a controversial statement is an effort to save PTI’s sinking ship.”
He said accusations were serious enough for the former army chief to address them himself. “[PTI’s] politics are sinking, and they want to save it.”
The defence minister alleged that the entire situation was actually about a fight for control of the party between Bushra Bibi and Imran’s three sisters.
Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar in a statement posted on X also criticised the former first lady for “implicating Saudi Arabia for petty political point-scoring”.
He said the government was proud of the “close relationship” Pakistan had with the friendly country which “always stood” by “through thick and thin”.
Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2024
ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided in principle to provide a dedicated road and railway access to Karachi Port through new infrastructure projects to address severe congestion crisis hampering Pakistan’s international trade.
The decision was taken on Friday at an inter-ministerial meeting, presided over by Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal and attended by representatives of the ministries of maritime affairs, communications, railways, aviation, commerce and planning besides the chief executive officer of Public-Private Partnership Authority (P3A).
Member of the Planning Commission (Infrastructure) Waqas Anwar briefed the meeting about issues related to the port infrastructure and facilities, and the measures required to improve port efficiency. He provided a progress update from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs regarding a committee constituted by the Prime Minister’s Office to address cross-cutting issues at Karachi Port.
Mr Anwar said Pakistan’s merchandise trade as a percentage of GDP stood at 26pc at present, significantly lower than the global average of 44pc. From 2015 to 2020, Pakistan’s ports handled over three million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of container traffic annually, with approximately two-thirds managed at Karachi’s three terminals and the remainder at the Port Qasim.
New committee tasked with providing consensus-based solution to challenges within two weeks
He pointed out that rail access to Karachi Port was underutilised, with nearly all cargo transported via road, leading to environmental challenges and congestion in Karachi. Existing rail facilities were insufficient for efficient goods transfer due to their limited capacity for loading and unloading operations, he said.
On top of that, he added, Karachi Port faced significant road congestion due to truck curfews (from 6am to 11pm daily), affecting traffic flow into and out of port areas. Port Qasim, on the other hand, benefits from better road connectivity (N-5 and M-9 via Eastern Bypass) but may face road access congestion by 2030 if rail connectivity was not improved, he warned.
To address these challenges, the committee constituted by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif came up with certain solutions.
The Planning Commission member explained short- and long-term measures. Short-term measures include implementing 24/7 port operations while scheduling freight truck movements to reduce congestion. Freight trucks would use port gates only during pre-arranged schedules.
For long-term solutions, it was recommended to develop an elevated expressway as a priority project to ease road congestion.
Simultaneous investments in rail infrastructure were also proposed to enhance upcountry freight transport efficiency and reduce overall transportation costs. Both projects should progress concurrently to maximize long-term benefits.
Consensus-based solution
After detailed discussions, the meeting agreed to the urgency of resolving these challenges for national economic growth.
Another committee comprising representatives of the planning ministry, Port Qasim Authority, maritime affairs ministry, National Highway Authority (NHA) and railways ministry was constituted and tasked with reviewing the issues comprehensively and presenting a consensus-based solution within two weeks.
The planning minister reaffirmed the government’s commitment to strengthening port efficiency, boosting trade, and ensuring sustainable economic development, an official statement said.
Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2024
A NEW draft of the climate finance goals failed to elicit an agreement between the developing and developed world, as Pakistan joined other countries to trash the suggestion to offer an annual $250 billion by 2035.
“The demand of $1.3 trillion has been reduced to $250 billion only, which is unacceptable,” Arif Goheer told Dawn in response to a question about the new collective quantified goal. He, however, said the adaptation of the ‘Baku Adaptation Roadmap (BAR)’ was welcomed by Islamabad.
Before the release of the draft agreement in which the developed world finally agreed to put forth the quantum of finance, a press conference by the South Asia civil society criticised the attitude of the Global North, saying no deal was better than a bad deal.
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Before the new text was issued, Dr Abid Sulehri of the Sustainable Policy Development Institute termed the current deadlock a “collective suicide”, saying the anticipated withdrawal of the US might push the Global North to think of some sort of a compromise. He added that in case the developed world failed to deliver and the US also walked away that would probably be a collapse of the Paris Agreement.
Pakistan’s diplomacy to save glaciers
As the Hindu Kush and Himalaya region reels from flash floods and rapid melting of glaciers, Pakistan has pitched a joint front to address challenges in the cryosphere, advocating a ‘climate diplomacy initiative’ to save the third pole.
Due to climate-induced heat waves, glaciers are disproportionately affected, particularly in the HKH region which includes Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Bhutan among other countries. The HKH region is warming at an alarming rate, losing glaciers at twice the speed compared to other mountain ranges due to its proximity to the tropics.
“Glaciers in some regions, such as the tropical Andes, or the Indus and Tarim basins in High Mountain Asia, contribute a high proportion of seasonal water supplies…” the 2024 report on the ‘State of Cryosphere’ said, adding that in the current emission scenario, the Hindu Kush and Himalayas are going to lose 80 per cent of their snow. This will lead to food and water insecurity as well as loss of livelihoods in the region.
Against this backdrop, Romina Khurshid Alam, the prime minister’s climate change coordinator, pushed for a ‘mountain agenda’ at the COP29 focusing on the “unique vulnerabilities” these mountain ranges faced due to climate change. The minister, speaking at an event hosted by Kyrgyzstan last week, said over “13,000 glaciers” were a vital source of the region’s water supply for agriculture and catered to the needs of millions across South Asia.
Joint push: a regional approach
In another event, hosted by Bhutan in the first week of COP29, Ms Alam floated a similar proposal, giving the importance of these glaciers for the region. Pakistan was open to climate diplomacy because disasters did not differentiate between nation-states, she said, advocating a regional approach to resolve this issue.
Pakistan asks the world to do more as climate justice is linked to climate diplomacy, the PM’s aide told Dawn at the Pakistan Pavilion.
“Mountainous countries like Pakistan, Nepal, and even India, we are the most vulnerable mountainous communities. We are losing our culture, and livelihood [due to global warming],” said Maheshwar Dhakal, joint secretary at Nepal’s Ministry of Forest and Environment in his comment to Dawn.
He endorsed the idea of regional diplomacy, saying Nepal wanted all mountainous countries to come to an understanding.
Bangladesh’s Sanjay Kumar Bhowmik, a former additional secretary at the climate ministry, said that all HKH countries were working together under the umbrella of the Nepal-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) to save glaciers.
He said Bangladesh’s hilly region comprises one-fourth of the country. One of the adaptation projects in the country is being run by ICIMOD, he told Dawn at Bangladesh Pavilion in Baku. On the other hand, Bhutan also pushes for the mountain agenda at high-level ministerial meetings, demanding a goal fit for purpose.
Safdar Mirza, an environmental activist from Gilgit-Baltistan, said there was a disconnect between the community and measures taken by the government for adaptation, such as early warning systems. He said the GB Environmental Protection Agency recently wrote a letter about GLOFs seeking details about the installation of early warning systems.
On global forums, such as climate conferences, a joint push will be a good idea, according to Dr Miriam Jackson, an experienced glaciologist working for the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative.
“I think it is a very good idea for mountain countries to work together,” she said, adding that a separate negotiation bloc, however, could stretch resources.
This story was produced as part of the 2024 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship organised by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Centre for Peace and Security.
Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2024
ISLAMABAD: Two more polio cases were found in the country on Friday, taking the total cases for the current year to 52.
According to an official of the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health, the lab has confirmed detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 cases, taking the number of total cases in the country this year to 52.
“The newly detected cases come from Tehsil Darazinda of district Dera Ismail Khan affecting a girl and a boy aged 18 and 36 months, respectively. Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is under way,” he said.
“Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio endemic districts of southern KP, has now reported five polio cases this year. Of the 52 cases reported in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from KP and one each from Punjab and Islamabad,” he said.
“There is no cure for polio. Multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five is essential to keep them protected. It is critical for parents to open their doors to vaccinators and ensure that all children in their care receive oral polio vaccine to keep them protected from the devastating effects of polio,” the official said.
Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2024
KURRAM: The death toll from Thursday’s attack on passenger vehicles in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram district area rose to 43, authorities said on Friday as they imposed a curfew and suspended mobile service in the remote mountainous district.
Businesses, educational institutions and markets remained closed across Parachinar and surrounding areas in Kurram, a district near the Afghanistan border with a history of sectarian violence.
Thousands of people took to the streets in various cities on Friday.
The convoy of around 200 vehicles, carrying Shia passengers between Peshawar and Parachinar, came under heavy gunfire in the densely populated Bagan town.
According to witnesses, the vehicles were ambushed from four sides. Muhammad, a 14-year-old survivor, told Dawn that the assault lasted around 30 minutes.
Authorities said that the victims included seven women and three children, with 16 others injured — 11 of whom are in critical condition.
Sajid Kazmi, a leader of Majlis-i-Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM), condemned the attack, accusing law enforcement agencies of negligence. He alleged that despite the convoy being escorted by police from Thal to Alizai, the forces failed to protect passengers. Mr Kazmi demanded the formation of a joint investigation team (JIT) to investigate the massacre.
Kurram Deputy Commissioner Javedullah Mehsud confirmed the death toll, adding that efforts were underway to restore normalcy. He told Dawn that a grand jirga would be convened to find a viable solution to the unrest.
Protests and funerals
The attack has sparked outrage across the district, with demonstrations held in various locations, including outside the Parachinar Press Club. Thousands of people participated in a sit-in in Parachinar, where protesters criticised the government’s failure to protect civilians.
Funerals for the victims, including journalist Janan Hussain, a member of the Parachinar Press Club, were held in their respective villages before Friday prayers. Mr Hussain had recently returned from Malaysia.
An administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the AFP news agency that mobile signals across the district had been shut down, describing the situation as “extremely tense”.
“A curfew has been imposed on the main road connecting Upper and Lower Kurram, and the bazaar remains completely closed, with all traffic suspended,” the official said. After the funerals, the youth gathered, chanted slogans against the government and marched toward a nearby security checkpoint, resident Muhammad Ali told the news agency.
A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that “some broke CCTV cameras at the checkpoint… burned tyres and caused damage to property”, before the situation de-escalated.
Several hundred people also demonstrated in Lahore, according to AFP.
“We are tired of counting the bodies. How long will this bloodshed continue?” Khanum Nida Jafri, a 50-year-old religious scholar protesting, said. “We are demanding peace for our children and women. Are we asking too much?”
Hundreds also demonstrated in Karachi.
Sectarian violence
Thursday’s ambush is the latest in a series of sectarian clashes between Sunni and Shia tribes in Kurram. Previous clashes in July and September claimed dozens of lives and were resolved only after tribal councils brokered ceasefires.
The latest violence drew condemnation from officials and human rights groups. “The frequency of such incidents confirms the failure of the federal and provincial governments to protect the security of ordinary citizens,” the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said in a statement.
“We demand immediate and decisive steps from both governments to permanently break this cycle of violence,” it said.
‘She died in my arms’
Danish Turi, a survivor of the deadly ambush, described the attack as “horrifying”. He witnessed a vehicle ahead of his being struck by a rocket launcher, leaving the passengers and the vehicle in ruins, according to a BBC Urdu report.
Mr Turi, the chairman of Parachinar Youth Council, recounted the chilling moments when gunfire erupted on the road connecting Peshawar to Parachinar. Travelling in a passenger coach with mostly women onboard, he was seated in the front when the attackers struck.
“When we reached the Mandori area, the convoy from Peshawar to Parachinar arrived, and within moments, heavy firing started,” Mr Turi recalled, according to the report.
He and several other passengers sought refuge in a nearby stream surrounded by dense trees. “I was carrying an eight-year-old girl, trying to move her to safety when a bullet hit her. She died in my arms.”
Mr Turi said the “vehicle in front of us, a Fielder car, was hit by a rocket, causing a massive explosion. We were terrified, thinking any moment could be our last.”
He helped evacuate around 10 to 12 women to safety. “But I couldn’t save the innocent girl who passed away in my arms.”
Journalist’s life cut short
The family of Janan Hussain, a journalist from Parachinar who was among the victims, went through the anguish of searching for him throughout the day, only to receive his body late at night.
Mr Hussain had recently returned from a trip to Malaysia. Known for his charitable work with his organisation, Mr Hussain was also working on community-focused journalism.
His cousin, Rizwan Hussain, shared how Janan had informed his wife during the journey that he was on his way home. “We were hopeful he was safe, but then his body arrived at 11pm, plunging the family into grief.”
Ali Afzal, a fellow journalist, recalled that Janan Hussain “often talked about how far the world has progressed while we remain entangled in conflicts”.
Mr Afzal told BBC Urdu that Janan had sent him a video from Malaysia with beautiful views saying that people lived there “like they were in a paradise”. “We will get heaven only after death,” Janan said in the video.
The attack also claimed the life of Gulfam Hussain, a taxi driver who had travelled to Peshawar to meet acquaintances. A father of five young children, Mr Hussain had planned to return to Parachinar with the convoy.
“We learned in the evening that Gulfam was among those injured in the attack. He later succumbed to his wounds,” said his uncle, Ali Ghulam.
With input from agencies
Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2024
ISLAMABAD / LAHORE: As the PTI remained resolute in its plans for a major protest on Nov 24, despite an Islamabad High Court order, the government on Friday vowed to suppress the power show with full force, deploying massive security forces, enforcing a sweeping ban on gatherings, blocking highways and motorways and launching a crackdown on leaders and workers of the opposition party.
The National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) announced that six key motorways would be closed for all types of traffic “due to maintenance” from Friday night, advising travellers to avoid unnecessary travel during this period. According to a statement, the decision was taken following information that protesters are planning to create a law and order situation and damage public and private property on Nov 24.
The motorways closed to traffic are: M1 from Peshawar to Islamabad, M2 from Lahore to Islamabad, M3 from Lahore to Abdul Hakeem, M4 from Pindi Bhattian to Multan, M11 from Sialkot to Lahore, and M14 from Yarik to Hakla.
Meanwhile, local authorities blocked bridges over the Chenab and Jhelum rivers in Gujrat district to restrict PTI protesters’ movement towards Islamabad. The closure caused significant inconvenience to commuters who found themselves stuck in long queues of trucks and other vehicles on both sides of the rivers. Heavy containers and trolleys were parked on both sides of the bridges.
Section 144, deployment
In light of PTI’s planned protest march in Islamabad, the Punjab government on Friday banned all political assemblies, gatherings, sit-ins, rallies and other activities across the province from Nov 23 to 25.
The home department imposed Section 144 across the province following the recommendation of the Standing Committee of Cabinet on Law and Order, which reviewed the security situation in Punjab amidst the current wave of terrorism incidents.
The home department said a political party had announced protests and demonstrations across the province on Nov 24 (Sunday). “There is an apprehension that miscreants/mischief-mongers could take advantage of the said protest to carry out subversive/anti-state activities to fulfil their nefarious designs,” it added.
The Islamabad police devised a comprehensive security plan to counter the PTI protest, which includes blocking roads and key points with containers, deploying personnel, strike and arrest teams, and utilising digital surveillance.
According to capital police officials, the security plan involves the deployment of 6,325 capital police officers alongside 21,500 personnel from other forces — 5,000 Rangers, 5,500 FC personnel, 9,000 Punjab police, and 2,000 Sindh police. The goal is to ensure the safety of the public and maintain peace in the city.
Around 1,200 containers will be used to block entry points and roads in the capital.
Fifteen key points in Islamabad, including Kati Pahari, Nicholson Monument, Paswal, Fatehjang Road, Margalla Avenue, Faizabad and Barakahu, will be blocked with containers. Around 4,500 personnel will be deployed to secure these locations, with Rangers stationed at Chongi No 26. An additional 7,500 personnel will be available on standby.
Digital surveillance will be conducted with 3,259 cameras operated by the Safe City Authority Islamabad, along with aerial surveillance using drones.
The Rawalpindi administration deployed over 6,000 anti-riot police, assisted by Rangers, to maintain law and order during PTI’s planned protest on Nov 24. The city will be sealed off at 70 points with containers and barriers, and 65 police pickets will be established to enforce Section 144 and ensure security.
Entry and exit routes across Rawalpindi district, including Murree Road and pathways to Islamabad, will be blocked with containers and barriers at designated points. To ensure compliance with Section 144, 65 police pickets will be established throughout the city, and the Metro Bus service will remain suspended indefinitely from Saturday night.
Arrests, raids
On Friday, police also made dozens of arrests and raided the houses of PTI leaders and workers across Punjab. In Sahiwal, police arrested 30 individuals, including political workers, ticket holders, youth, social media activists, and district and tehsil office-bearers, from various locations to prevent them from participating in the PTI protest.
Among those arrested were NA-141 ticket holder Rana Amir Shahzad, president of the Youth Wing Sheikh Awais and GS Muazzam, ex-UC chairman Rana Muhammad Zafar, Jahan Khan, Ghulam Dastigir, Abrar Doger, Shaikh Tamoor, ex-UC chairman Malik Asger, Saqlain, Altaf Bahadar, Shahzad Jutt, Aqash, Muhammad Saleem, Usama Mushtaq, Zubair Ali, Ibrar Joya, Adnan, Mushtaq, Aloudin and Muhammad Younas.
Police sources said the arrested individuals were shifted to undisclosed locations.
In Gujranwala, a heavy contingent of police raided a press conference held by PTI’s district leader and former MNA Chaudhry Mehdi Hassan Bhatti, confiscating logo cameras, microphones and mobile phones from journalists.
Subsequently, a case was registered against PTI district leaders and 13 people, including eight journalists, under multiple sections of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The incident sparked a wave of anger and resentment among journalists across the district, who condemned the police action in strong terms and demanded the immediate withdrawal of the false case.
In Sargodha, police launched a crackdown on PTI activists and began closing all routes, besides the motorway to stop the movement of PTI supporters.
No permission
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, in separate press conferences on Friday, categorically stated that the government would not permit PTI protesters to enter the federal capital for their rally and sit-in on Sunday.
Responding to criticism over sealing Islamabad and blocking main highways and motorways, the defence minister described these actions as a “lesser evil,” arguing that allowing protesters into the capital could have resulted in greater devastation.
“Yesterday, a court decision was issued, and we will enforce it with full force,” Mr Asif stated. He accused the PTI of planning a “third attack” on the capital after two prior incidents and suggested the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government should focus on combating terrorism instead.
Dismissing the possibility of backdoor negotiations between the government and PTI, he claimed that PTI leaders, including KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, were in contact with the establishment. “He [CM Gandapur] must have some channels; otherwise, he wouldn’t hold such significance. As a provincial chief minister, he has had conversations with the establishment. However, other PTI leaders like Barrister Gohar have no such contact,” he added.
Mr Asif also said CM Gandapur had attended an apex committee meeting under the National Action Plan and spent hours discussing political matters, including those related to PTI founder Imran Khan. He claimed that Mr Khan, who previously sought negotiations with the establishment, had now changed his statement claiming contacts with politicians. The minister denied any such contact or negotiations.
Mr Asif claimed that there are disputes within the PTI founder’s family over inheritance and accused Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi of attempting to claim political control.
Mohsin Naqvi also vowed to fully enforce the IHC order, alleging that PTI’s long march aimed to pressure the government to release Imran Khan, who has been imprisoned for over a year.
“No rally, march, or protest will be allowed in the federal capital due to the Belarusian president’s visit and the high court’s directives. We will enforce the orders 100 per cent, at any cost, as we are bound by law,” he asserted.
Denying any contact with Adiala Jail, where Imran Khan is incarcerated, the interior minister said the city administration had not received any formal application from the PTI to stage a protest.
He expressed regret over disruptions caused by such protests, but emphasised that no alternatives existed to maintain order.
“If they want to come and protest [in Islamabad], I will be the first to oppose any talks. If they wish to hold talks, it should be done in a proper manner. It is unacceptable to protest on one hand and simultaneously call for negotiations,” he said in response to a question about potential talks between the government and the PTI.
Imran stays firm
But the PTI has remained firm in its decision to hold a sit-in in the capital.
“The nation should focus on the November 24 protest. God willing, you will emerge victorious,” PTI founding chairman Imran Khan said in a message to the nation posted on X. Mr Khan emphasised that November 24 is a day for the nation to break free from slavery, as the rule of law, constitution, and human rights are being suspended in Pakistan.
Imran Khan’s sister, Aleema Khan, after holding a brief meeting with her brother in Adiala Jail, said the talk of withdrawing the Nov 24 call was misleading. She clarified that her brother had not withdrawn the protest call and stood by his decision.
Talking to reporters, she remarked, “These people are misleading you; you should not follow any of their words. This protest is your constitutional right. The illegal imprisonment of the founder of PTI must end.”
She said November 24 had become a crucial day. She said it was the final call, and the PTI founder had asked the entire nation to come out for their freedom and the independence of the judiciary. Aleema Khan said both she and her brother had been told to stop speaking, leave the country, and the cases would be “forgiven”.
With input from Syed Irfan Raza, Munawer Azeem and Iftikhar A. Khan in Islamabad, Waseem Ashraf Butt in Gujrat
Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2024
KURRAM / PESHAWAR: At least 39 people, including seven women and a nine-year-old girl, were killed and 28 others injured when a convoy of passenger vehicles was ambushed in Lower Kurram on Thursday, officials confirmed, fearing that the death toll may rise further.
The attack occurred in the Mandori Charkhel area, a region with a history of sectarian tensions and land disputes.
Deputy Commissioner Javedullah Mehsood said the convoy, consisting of some 200 vehicles, was on its way from Parachinar to Peshawar when it came under heavy gunfire. Twelve injured passengers, including two women, were shifted to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Tall, while 16 others were transported to Tehsil Hospital Alizai.
Sources said the attack, which occurred around 1:20pm, appeared to be retaliation for an Oct 12 assault that claimed 15 lives, including those of two women and a child. Local officials expressed concerns that the situation might escalate further, with tensions running high in the tribal district.
Mr Mehsood told the AFP news agency that two separate convoys of Shia passengers were targeted in two attacks. “Approximately 10 attackers were involved in both incidents, firing indiscriminately from both sides of the road,” he said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the incident.
‘Five minutes of shooting’
Ajmeer Hussain was among those attacked and taken to a local hospital for treatment.
“Gunfire suddenly erupted, and I started reciting my prayers, thinking these were my final moments,” Mr Hussain, a 28-year-old victim being treated at a local hospital, told AFP.
“I laid down at the feet of the two passengers sitting next to me. Both of them were struck by multiple bullets and died instantly,” he added. “The shooting lasted for about five minutes.”
Kurram district, which borders Afghanistan, has long experienced sectarian violence, often fuelled by disputes over land ownership between communities.
The government had earlier appointed a land commission to resolve the matter. While the commission has reportedly submitted its findings, the government has yet to make the report public, citing sectarian sensitivities.
Speculation also surrounds the involvement of the banned terrorist group Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has recently been active in Lower Kurram, prompting fears among the residents. But government officials attributed the incident to the ongoing land dispute, ruling out sectarian motives.
A tribal elder of Tori Bangash tribes, Jalal Bangash, urged authorities to immediately evacuate stranded passengers and take steps to ensure the safety of the injured.
Mr Bangash and Allama Tajammal Hussain condemned the attack, stressing the failure of state institutions to secure transportation routes despite previous peace efforts, including a mass march by locals from Parachinar to Islamabad.
PM, CM condemn incident
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack, saying in a statement that “the enemies of peace in the country have attacked a convoy of innocent citizens, an act that amounts to sheer brutality”.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi and Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur also condemned the attack.
Mr Gandapur ordered the reactivation of a jirga to de-escalate the conflict and ordered the formation of a provincial highway police force to secure transportation routes, according to a statement from the Chief Minister’s Secretariat.
The chief minister also directed provincial ministers, lawmakers and senior officials to visit the area and submit a detailed report.
He pledged that those responsible for the attack would be brought to justice and directed all relevant institutions to work towards restoring peace in the region.
‘Criminal silence’
The attack drew strong condemnation from political and religious leaders. Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) announced nationwide protests and a mourning period against the attack on unarmed civilians.
Addressing a press conference at the National Press Club in Islamabad, MWM General Secretary Syed Nasir Abbas Shirazi and other party leaders criticised the provincial and federal governments for failing to protect civilians. He particularly criticised CM Gandapur, federal Minister of Interior Mohsin Naqvi and the inefficiency of security institutions.
“More than 50 people have been martyred. We condemn the criminal silence of the interior minister,” he added. “The rulers want to run this country at the cost of our blood.”
“This is not a Shia-Sunni problem. The responsibility for the blood of these innocent passengers lies with law enforcement agencies,” he said.
Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman also expressed sorrow over the killings. In a statement, he called the incident a failure of federal and provincial governments, institutions and law enforcement agencies, lamenting their inability to maintain law and order.
“Decisions to launch operations are made every day, but terrorism is not under control now,” he said.
Kalbe Ali in Islamabad also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2024
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday ruled that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) planned protest on Nov 24 is unlawful and directed the federal government to take all necessary measures to maintain law and order in the federal capital without disrupting public life, particularly as the Belarusian president is scheduled to arrive over the weekend with a high-profile delegation.
Chief Justice Aamer Farooq issued the ruling while hearing a petition filed by Islamabad’s traders, who raised concerns over the potential disruption caused by the protest. The court directed the government to engage PTI leadership for an amicable resolution while ensuring the safety of citizens and foreign dignitaries.
In its order, the court directed the Ministry of Interior to form a committee, preferably led by the interior minister, to engage with PTI leadership. The order highlighted the sensitivity of the situation, noting that the president of Belarus and a 65-member delegation are scheduled to visit Islamabad on the same dates.
Chief Justice Farooq expected some breakthrough in the dialogue, stating that “when such formal engagement is made, some development will take place”.
The court order added, “In case no breakthrough is made, then to ensure law and order situation is the responsibility of Respondents No. 1 to 4 (interior ministry, chief commissioner, deputy commissioner and inspector general of Islamabad police) … No protest or rally or for that matter sit-in shall be allowed by Respondents No.1 to 4 in violation” of the Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act, 2024.
The petition, filed by Jinnah Super Traders Association President Asad Aziz through Advocate Rizwan Abbasi, argued that PTI’s planned protest violates the Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act, 2024. The plea stressed that protests without formal permission create chaos and project an image of lawlessness.
Chief Justice Farooq, noting the severity of the situation, summoned Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, the interior secretary, Islamabad’s inspector general of police and chief commissioner.
During the hearing, Justice Farooq questioned the repeated disruptions caused by protests, saying, “What is the fault of the common citizen? Children’s schools are closed, and businesses suffer. What alternative solutions can be implemented instead of shutting down the city with containers?”
Logistical, security challenges
Interior Minister Naqvi briefed the court on the logistical and security challenges posed by the protest. Stressing that the planned protest coincides with the high-profile visit of the Belarusian delegation, he said, “This situation is damaging for Pakistan’s international reputation.”
Mr Naqvi said that installing containers and closing roads were not sustainable solutions but argued that maintaining law and order in the capital was a top priority, especially given previous incidents of violence during protests.
The IHC reiterated that freedom of assembly is subject to reasonable restrictions under the law to safeguard public interest and maintain order.
Referring to the newly enacted Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act, 2024, the court noted that organisers of public gatherings are required to seek formal permission from the district magistrate at least seven days before the event. Officials informed the court that PTI had not submitted a formal application to hold the protest.
Mobile services to be suspended
Later, talking to the media, Interior Minister Naqvi highlighted security challenges, including the arrival of a high-level delegation from Belarus.
“A 65-member delegation, including the president of Belarus, will be visiting on Nov 24 and 25. Ensuring their security is our priority. During this time, mobile services will also be suspended in Islamabad,” Mr Naqvi said.
He dismissed the possibility of unauthorised protests, stating, “No one is stopping anyone from protesting, but it must be done in designated areas with prior permission. Coming to Islamabad during such sensitive times is not appropriate.”
Mr Naqvi confirmed that the Punjab Police, Rangers and Frontier Corps (FC) would work jointly to enforce the court’s directives. He criticised PTI for refusing to negotiate in good faith, stating, “Dialogue is always an option, but not under threats or intimidation.”
He said there was no ongoing dialogue with PTI regarding their protest plans. He noted that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan and the KP police chief were in regular contact with federal authorities regarding law and order issues.
Meanwhile, the minister also expressed concerns over the presence of Afghan nationals in Pakistan, stating, “Out of every hundred individuals arrested during protests, 20 to 25 turn out to be Afghan nationals. This is a pressing issue that we must address.”
Mr Naqvi assured citizens that the government is taking steps to improve Islamabad’s traffic management and protect sensitive areas such as the Red Zone and D-Chowk.
He confirmed that the federal government would comply with the IHC’s directives. “The chief justice has raised valid concerns about the rights of ordinary citizens and the disruption caused by such gatherings. We are fully prepared to implement any orders issued by the court,” he said.
Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2024
PESHAWAR: Bushra Bibi, the wife of PTI founder Imran Khan, has said the party’s planned protest on November 24 will not be put off.
In a rare video message on Thursday, Bushra Bibi, who usually refrains from public appearances and interviews, said there was no truth to reports of a change in the protest’s date.
“The protest date could only be changed on the condition that Imran Khan is released from prison and he gives a course of action to the public,” said Mr Khan’s spouse in a video message shared on PTI’s official X handle.
She asked the public not to believe the reports and to come out of their homes on Nov 24 to join the protest.
The video message came a few hours after the Islamabad High Court ruled PTI’s protest as “unlawful” and directed the federal government to maintain law and order in the federal capital without disrupting public life.
Conspiracy
In her message, Bushra Bibi also made revelations about the alleged conspiracy by foreign powers to oust her husband’s government and blamed foreign powers for it.
She claimed that after Mr Khan arrived barefooted to visit Madina, the then army chief, Qamar Jawed Bajwa, “started getting calls” about the ex-PM.
Ms Bibi accompanied Mr Khan during the visits from 2018 to 2021.
Without naming any country, the former first lady said: “When he [Mr Khan] returned, [Gen] Bajwa started getting calls [asking] ‘who have you brought into power? We’re abolishing Sharia in this country, and you have brought a proponent of Sharia. We don’t want him’.”
Ms Bibi claimed that her husband never made this issue public and said Gen Bajwa and his family should be questioned about this. Several media reports on Thursday night claimed the former general has denied the allegations, while her claims also prompted widespread concern within party circles, with many saying her remarks could hurt ongoing backchannel efforts.
Mr Khan’s spouse also asked the police and law enforcement agencies to “not go overboard” in their actions against the party’s peaceful protesters.
She claimed her husband was being held in a “cramped space” for more than a year and asked if it was not the duty of lawyers and judges to provide justice to her husband.
Peaceful protest
A similarly defiant tone was struck by PTI leader Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachar, who said the party has “pitched itself against the establishment” and vowed to hold the protest on the announced date.
“We have a Plan B, Plan C and even Plan D to prove that November 24 is a final call from the party founder Imran Khan,” asserted Mr Bhachar, who is also the opposition leader in Punjab Assembly.
While addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club on Thursday, Mr Bhachar warned of a “re-enactment of May 9” violence if the government used force against the protesters.
He asserted that the PTI had planned a peaceful protest in Islamabad, but “we cannot give any guarantee to stay peaceful”.
While commenting on talks with the government, he said the ruling coalition “had no power, and the PTI could not enter into dialogue with pawns”.
The PTI leader claimed the government was already blocking access to Lahore and other cities.
Mansoor Malik in Lahore also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2024
THE HAGUE: The International Criminal Court on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister, as well as Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif.
The unprecedented move drew a furious reaction from Netanyahu, who denounced it as anti-Semitic. “Israel rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions and accusations made against it,” he said.
Israel’s closest allies, including the United States, also denounced the warrants against the Israeli politicians, but rights groups including Amnesty International welcomed them.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu is now officially a wanted man,” said Amnesty Secretary General Agnes Callamard.
The ICC’s move theoretically limits the movement of Netanyahu, as any of the court’s 124 national members would be obliged to arrest him on their territory.
“The Chamber issued warrants of arrest for two individuals, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024, the day the Prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest,” the ICC said in a statement. A warrant had also been issued for Deif, it added.
Israel said in early August it had killed Deif in an air strike in southern Gaza in July, but Hamas has not confirmed his death. The court said it had issued the arrest warrant as the prosecutor had not been able to determine whether or not Deif was dead.
‘Reasonable grounds’
The court said it had found “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore “criminal responsibility” for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, as well as the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.
The ICC said the pair were also criminally responsible “for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population”.
The court alleged both men “intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival”, including food, water, medicine, fuel, and electricity.
Regarding the war crime of starvation, it said the “lack of food, water, electricity and fuel, and specific medical supplies, created conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of part of the civilian population in Gaza”.
This resulted in civilian deaths including of children, due to malnutrition and dehydration, the court charged.
It said it had not yet determined if “all elements of the crime against humanity of extermination were met,” the court said.
However, judges did say there were reasonable grounds to believe that the crime against humanity of murder had been committed in relation to these victims.
‘Deeply concerned’
Washington denounced the warrants against Israel. “We remain deeply concerned by the Prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision,” said a National Security Council spokesperson. “The United States has been clear that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over this matter.”
Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, also expressed his country’s “deep disagreement”. Noting the repeated attacks on Israel’s population, he argued: “Criminalising the legitimate defence of a nation while ignoring these atrocities is an act that distorts the spirit of international justice.”
Speaking from Jordan, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell noted: “It is not a political decision. It is a decision of a court, of a court of justice, of an international court of justice. And the decision of the court has to be respected and implemented.”
Hamas said the warrants for the Israeli officials were an “important step towards justice”.
‘Secret’ warrants
The warrants had initially been classified as “secret” to protect witnesses and safeguard the conduct of the investigations, the court said.
They decided to make the public “since conduct similar to that addressed in the warrant of arrest appears to be ongoing”, it added.
“Moreover, the Chamber considers it to be in the interest of victims and their families that they are made aware of the warrants’ existence.”
ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan in May requested the court issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Netanyahu sacked Gallant as defence minister on November 5.
Khan initially also sought warrants against other top Hamas leaders on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
He had already dropped the application for Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s political leader, following his death in an explosion in Tehran. Khan had also requested warrants against former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was also killed by the Israeli military in Gaza.
Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2024
ISLAMABAD: The New Gwadar International Airport, developed with a $230 million grant by China, remains largely inactive due to the failure of aviation and port authorities to market the facility internationally or engage consultants for its commercialisation.
Presiding over a review meeting, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal was flabbergasted over a two-page presentation that showed mostly paperwork about various facilities at the airport inaugurated by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang last month.
He “strongly criticised the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) and Pakistan Airport Authority (PAA) for delays in developing a comprehensive plan to commercialise the airport”, an official statement said.
The Civil Aviation and Airport Authority officials said that approvals had been accorded for allotment of space to government departments, PIA, ground handling agents, and other stakeholders for cargo sheds, courier services and traffic guidance systems in the administration block while the tender was being issued for cold storage.
Ahsan gives airport authority three weeks to submit comprehensive plan with clear timelines
Also, the meeting was told that expressions of interest had been invited for warehouses for commercial entities, setting up of the hotel, and maintenance-repair-overhaul (MRO) facilities on lease at the airport while space had been allocated to Pakistan State Oil for a fuelling facility.
Talking about the three-year plan, the meeting was told that steps would be taken to initially complete the process for the award of essential facilities, passenger facilitation, etc., and more commercial concessions would be operationalised depending on the passenger flow and flight operations.
This did not go well with the minister, who expressed his displeasure and dissatisfaction and observed that these arrangements, along with a commercial plan, should have been started two years before the completion of the airport capable of handling large aircraft like Airbus A380s and Boeing 747s.
He said China had built the airport according to international standards, but there has been total disappointment and zero progress on Pakistan’s side.
Mr Iqbal observed that the relevant aviation and airport authorities should have operationalised the facility within six months of its completion and should have approached the international airlines and governments to explain the strategic and economic benefits of using Gwadar Airport for shorter distances compared to other long-haul flights or flights using multiple stopovers to reach long distances like African destinations.
He said the best international firms should have been engaged to design marketing plans, including discounts and incentives.
Mr Iqbal highlighted the critical importance of positioning Gwadar as a hub for international airlines. He stressed that if airlines are not attracted within six months of inauguration, the likelihood of success diminishes over the years.
To incentivise long-haul flights from regions such as South Africa and Australia, the minister proposed providing attractive rates for at least five years, emphasising technical landings as a key strategy, an official said.
Modern facilities, limited progress
Constructed with a $230m grant from the Chinese government, Gwadar Airport features a 3,648-metre runway and a 14,000-square-metre passenger terminal equipped with auxiliary facilities, including air traffic control, community hospital and utility services.
The airport has an annual passenger capacity of 400,000, expandable to 1.6m.
PAA Additional Director General Air Vice Marshall Zeeshan Saeed explained safety evaluations and airfield regularisation, assuring operational clearance by December. Project Director Faiz Ullah Khattak and PCAA Director General Commercial Abdul Basit provided updates on ongoing initiatives, including allotments for government departments, warehouses and tenders.
“However, the minister expressed disappointment at the two-year delay in commercialisation planning and directed the PCAA to expedite efforts to attract airlines, develop air cargo facilities, and establish business partnerships with an international focus,” the statement said.
Highlighting the need for a market-driven approach, the minister emphasised that a market analysis should have been conducted before the airport’s inauguration.
He pointed out that international airlines currently using Oman and Dubai for technical landings could find Gwadar a cost-effective alternative and instructed officials to position Gwadar Airport accordingly.
In addition to passenger traffic, the minister stressed the urgent need to establish air cargo facilities, directing the PCAA to engage global logistics companies such as DHL and FedEx to kickstart operations and prioritise cargo utility.
To enhance airport utilisation, the minister urged the development of commercial facilities such as restaurants, duty-free shops and recreational amenities. Citing examples like Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport, which features a golf course between runways, he proposed leveraging unused airport land for similar innovative projects to attract travellers and businesses alike.
The minister concluded the meeting by setting a three-week deadline for PAA officials to present a comprehensive commercialisation plan, including clear timelines and strategies for engaging stakeholders.
He reiterated the need for immediate and collaborative action to establish Gwadar Airport as a strategic hub for regional and global connectivity, ensuring its contribution to Gwadar’s economic development and Pakistan’s broader growth ambitions.
Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2024
NEW DELHI: Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been indicted for fraud by US prosecutors and arrest warrants issued for him and his nephew for their alleged roles in a $265 million scheme to bribe Indian officials to secure power-supply deals.
The crisis is the second in two years to hit the ports-to-power conglomerate founded by Adani, 62, one of the world’s richest people. The fallout was felt immediately, as billions of dollars were wiped off the market value of Adani Group companies and Kenya’s president canceled a massive airport project with the group.
Adani Group said in a statement that the allegations made by the US Department of Justice and by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a parallel civil case were “baseless and denied,” adding that it would seek “all possible legal recourse.”
US authorities said on Wednesday that eight people, including Adani and his nephew Sagar, agreed to pay about $265m in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain contracts expected to yield $2 billion of profit over 20 years, and to develop India’s largest solar power plant project.
Kenyan President William Ruto said on Thursday he ordered the cancellation of a procurement process that was expected to hand control of the country’s main airport to Adani Group in a deal worth nearly $2bn. Following the news, Adani Green Energy, the company at the center of the case, canceled a scheduled $600m US bond sale.
Solar power plant
US authorities said the Adanis and Adani Green Energy’s former CEO Vneet Jaain had raised more than $3bn in loans and bonds by hiding their corruption from lenders and investors.
US law bars foreign companies who raise money from US investors from paying bribes overseas to win business. It is also against US law to raise money from investors on the basis of false statements.
According to prosecutors, Adani Green Energy raised money from US investors and submitted financial documents falsely stating that it had not paid any government officials to secure an improper advantage.
Sagar Adani is an executive director at Adani Green Energy and oversees its “strategic and financial matters.”
Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Jaain did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. Arrest warrants have been issued in the US for Gautam and Sagar Adani and US prosecutors plan to hand those warrants to foreign law enforcement, US court records show.
Shares, bonds slump
Adani Group companies collectively lost about $27 billion in value in Thursday’s trade in India, reducing their combined market capitalisation to about $142bn.
Shares in Adani Green Energy plunged 19 per cent and stocks for many other firms in the conglomerate, including flagship Adani Enterprises, lost more than 10pc.
Adani dollar bonds slumped, with prices down between 3-5c on bonds for Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone.
Indian opposition parties that have long complained that Adani and his conglomerate have been treated favorably by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government called for an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing. Modi and Adani, both from the western state of Gujarat, have denied impropriety.
Published in Dawn, November 22th, 2024
ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Thursday expressed grave concern over the growing threat posed by terrorist groups operating from Afghan soil, urging the Taliban administration in Kabul to take decisive action against militants sheltering in Afghanistan.
The call comes amid a surge in violence across Pakistan that has claimed the lives of dozens of security personnel in recent weeks.
Speaking at the weekly media briefing, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch emphasised the regional and global ramifications of unchecked terrorism from Afghanistan.
“Pakistan is concerned about the activities of these terror groups which have sanctuaries and hideouts in Afghanistan. We are also concerned about continued freedom of operation of terror groups that have found hideouts in Afghanistan,” she said, adding that “terrorism is a threat not just for Afghanistan but also for neighbouring countries of Afghanistan, including Pakistan, as well as to the wider world”.
Kabul urged to take decisive action against militants sheltering in Afghanistan
She urged Kabul to honour its commitments under international agreements, including the Doha Agreement, which obligates the Taliban to prevent the use of Afghan soil by terrorist groups.
The terrorist attack on a security post on Nov 19 which claimed 12 soldiers’ lives underscored the threat from Afghanistan-based terrorist groups.
The international community has also raised concerns about Afghanistan’s harbouring of terrorist groups.
“The concerns of the international community have been outlined in the United Nations reports and in the meetings of the neighbouring countries and the regional countries on the Afghanistan situation,” Ms Baloch noted, reiterating that Pakistan expects the Taliban to view terrorism as a serious threat to their own security and the region.
The escalating violence has prompted renewed discussions at the highest levels of the government. The Federal Apex Committee of the National Action Plan earlier this week reviewed the activities of terrorist groups, reaffirming Pakistan’s resolve to combat the threat.
“Pakistan is deeply concerned about the support these terror groups receive from hostile powers,” Ms Baloch added, highlighting the complex geopolitical dynamics exacerbating the security crisis.
Pakistan has, meanwhile, stepped up its diplomatic outreach to address the regional security threat posed by terrorist groups operating from Afghan soil, coordinating with international partners to bolster efforts against militancy. Recent visits by Chinese and Russian envoys underscore Islamabad’s focus on fostering regional collaboration against the terrorism threat emanating from Afghanistan.
Chinese Special Envoy on Afghan Affairs Yue Xiaoyong and Russian Special Representative on Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov met Pakistani officials in Islamabad last week. The envoys held talks with foreign secretary Amna Baloch and additional foreign secretary for Afghanistan and West Asia Ahmad Wasim Warraich.
Discussions included Pakistan’s concerns about terrorist sanctuaries in Afghanistan and the need for neighbouring countries to work together for Afghanistan’s stability.
“The concerns about terrorism that Pakistan continues to face from hideouts and sanctuaries inside Afghanistan; and the importance of cooperation between neighbouring countries of Afghanistan for peace, stability and prosperity in Afghanistan,” were shared with the visiting envoys, Ms Baloch said, without elaborating on specific outcomes from the meetings.
Pakistan is also engaged in ongoing discussions with the United States on counter-terrorism and regional security issues.
“We have conveyed our concerns about the terrorist threat Pakistan faces from Afghanistan,” Ms Baloch said. “This is an ongoing dialogue, and we hope to work with the United States for peace in Afghanistan and to ensure that Afghanistan fulfills its commitment on countering terrorism so that these terror groups do not threaten Pakistan’s security.”
Published in Dawn, November 22th, 2024
LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday indicted incarcerated PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, its Punjab President Dr Yasmin Rashid, former governor Umar Sarfraz Cheema, Senator Ejaz Chaudhry and others in another case of May 9 riots.
ATC-I Judge Manzer Ali Gill conducted the hearing of four cases of last year’s widespread violence at Kot Lakhpat Jail.
The judge directed the prosecution to present its witnesses to testify on Dec 2 after the suspects pleaded not guilty in case of burning police vehicles near Mughalpura.
The judge adjourned the hearing of other three cases, including attacking and torching Shadman police station and vehicles near Jinnah House in cantonment, till Nov 28.
Aslam Iqbal declared proclaimed offender
The indictment of the suspects could not be made in the three cases due to the absence of PTI former MNA Aliya Hamza Malik and activist Sanam Javed, who are on bail.
The women’s lawyers filed separate requests for a one-day exemption from attendance, saying both had gone to Peshawar to attend hearings against them. The judge directed the prosecution to ensure the presence of all suspects at the next hearing for the indictment.
On Nov 18, the court indicted Mr Qureshi and other PTI leaders in multiple cases, including burning of police vehicles near Jinnah House and Sherpao Bridge in cantonment, and outside Zaman Park residence of PTI founding chairman Imran Khan.
Later, the PTI challenged their indictment in the Sherpao Bridge case and the court sought a reply from the prosecution on the application of the suspects. The suspects argued that the process of the indictment had been conducted in an unlawful manner.
Proclaimed offender
Meanwhile, the anti-terrorism court on Thursday declared PTI MPA Mian Aslam Iqbal a proclaimed offender (PO) in yet another case of May 9 riots and issued his perpetual arrest warrants.
Gulberg police filed an application before the court with a request to declare Iqbal a PO in FIR No 1273/23 of Askari Tower attack for not surrendering to the law and deliberately avoiding legal proceedings against him.
The court allowed the police request and declared the PTI leader a PO in the case, issuing his perpetual arrest warrants.
MPA Mian Aslam Iqbal has already been declared PO in multiple cases of May 9 protests for not surrendering to the law.
Published in Dawn, November 22th, 2024
THE so-called climate finance conference at COP29 failed to make any headway on Thursday, as a new draft resolution for the new collective quantified goal (NCQG) — termed disappointing by Pakistan’s lead negotiator — failed to bridge the chasm between the developed and developing countries on how to scale up finance to counter climate change.
Soon after its delayed release in the early morning, the draft came under fire by developing countries, including Pakistan, who were visibly upset with the developed countries for not even agreeing to the quantum of the finance despite almost two weeks into the negotiations. Instead of the number, which according to them should be $1.3 trillion, the document only mentions a placeholder ‘X’.
Another disagreement which is stalling the talks is the contributing base. Developing countries, including China and India, want wealthier nations to fulfil their obligations and scale up climate finance under the Paris Agreement signed in 2015.
An official of the G-77 delegation said one of their demands right now “is to demystify” the finance package. There has been no definition of the quality (public vs private finance) and the quantity (the total amount) of climate finance and we need that, the official added on the condition of anonymity.
Arif Goheer, who represents Pakistan at the NCQG talks, said the document was “disappointing”.
The draft resolution also came under fire in the plenary, as most delegates, including Aisha Moriani who was representing Pakistan at the high-level meeting, expressed their displeasure with the inaction on pressing climate issues.
UN chief Antonio Guterres, in his address, meanwhile, urged the countries to find common ground. “We need a major push to get discussions over the finishing line,” he said in his address. But in the current form, it seems there is no “common ground” to agree on.
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Not only there are differences regarding the quantum of money, but the countries also differ on transparency and variety of finance. The mobilisation of private finance, which is proposed by the wealthy countries, is not endorsed by the developing countries who want them to mobilise public finance to avoid more debt traps.
“There’s two options: one that could unlock trillions in finance or one allowing developed countries to shirk their responsibilities onto the private sector and developing countries,” Jasper Inventor, who heads the COP29 delegation for Greenpeace International, said.
Besides the contributors’ base, there are also disagreements about the recipients. The developing countries also say that they will not commit to new climate targets (nationally determined contributions) without a prior agreement on money.
Sustainable Development Policy Institute Executive Director Abid Sulehri said it seemed the developed countries did not want to take historical responsibility for emissions. “I don’t think with this sort of lose-lose approach we can think of a sustainable future. The wealthy countries needed to cough up more funds…”
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Harjeet Singh, global engagement director for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, said: “The revised draft text “recognises the need to prioritise grants but remains silent” on the scale of the new finance goal.
“We must focus not only on the vast sums required — trillions, as acknowledged — but on ensuring these funds are provided as grants, not loans, to shield nations most impacted by climate change from further financial burdens,” he said, adding that true support for a “just transition away from fossil fuels must include robust public finance, not hollow words”.
According to Jamie Williams of Islamic Relief Worldwide, people dying from the “climate emergency can’t survive on empty words, they need clear financial commitments from the countries that caused the crisis”. “The text recognises that trillions of dollars are needed but fails to commit any specific amount,” he said while also criticising the shift towards private investments over public finance.
As the stalemate on negotiations continues, there is a flurry of activity at the venue, with press conferences by the major negotiating blocks. A new draft agreement will likely be released in the afternoon and the delegates will meet again to iron out the differences.
But there is no number from the wealthy countries on the scale of finance, a fact pointed out by most civil society organisations as well as the governments. According to Mr Sulehri, there is only a good outcome when “everybody leaves the room equally unhappy”. And there are speculations the conference will overrun its scheduled timeframe, since an agreement on Friday is unlikely.
This story was produced as part of the 2024 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship organised by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security.
Published in Dawn, November 22th, 2024
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday granted bail to former prime minister Imran Khan in the second Toshakhana case concerning the purchase of an expensive Bulgari jewellery set at a throwaway price.
However, Mr Khan is unlikely to be released from jail as he needs to secure bail in nearly two dozen other cases. Late in the night, Rawalpindi police arrested him on terrorism charges related to a September protest.
Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb approved Mr Khan’s post-arrest bail against surety bonds worth Rs10 million, cautioning that any non-cooperation during trial proceedings could lead to the cancellation of the bail.
The decision came after detailed arguments from Mr Khan’s legal counsel and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) prosecution. The case pertains to allegations that Mr Khan retained state gifts, including a Bulgari jewellery set, by undervaluing them in violation of Toshakhana rules.
According to the FIA, the alleged undervaluation resulted in financial losses to the state while benefiting Mr Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi.
Mr Khan’s counsel rejected the allegations, stressing that the gifts were acquired under the 2018 Toshakhana policy, with payments made in accordance with valuations by customs and appraisers. The defence argued that the appraiser, Sohaib Abbasi, was coerced into altering his statement to implicate Mr Khan.
The counsel further highlighted procedural flaws, such as a delay of over three years in filing the case and vague charges under Section 109 of PPC.
During the hearing, Justice Aurangzeb questioned the prosecution’s evidence, including the reliability of witness statements and the specifics of alleged threats.
He also criticised the PTI government’s policy of withholding Toshakhana details, remarking, “When we asked, the details were hidden. Transparency was deliberately avoided.”
The judge dismissed the prosecution’s argument that Mr Khan benefited financially through his wife, quipping, “My wife’s belongings are not mine — what kind of logic is this?”
Ultimately, the court granted bail, noting that the case required further inquiry. The trial will now proceed to determine the validity of the charges.
Imran’s challenges persist
Despite the bail order, Mr Khan remains in Adiala Jail as he faces about two dozen FIRs across Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Sources said he must secure bail in at least eight cases in Lahore related to the May 9, 2023 violent protests.
The former PM also faces three new cases registered in Rawalpindi under anti-terrorism laws, linked to PTI protests on Sept 28 and Oct 5. These cases were filed at the Naseerabad, New Town and Taxila police stations.
Sources also said Mr Khan has been granted bail in five earlier cases concerning the May 9 riots, but has yet to submit the required bail bonds, raising questions about his legal team’s diligence. In Islamabad alone, Mr Khan faces 62 cases, requiring bail in at least 15 of them.
Case filed in Rawalpindi
Hours after the IHC granted bail to Mr Khan, the Rawalpindi police arrested him in connection with a new case registered at New Town Police Station on terrorism and other charges.
On late Wednesday evening, a police spokesperson said Mr Khan had been detained in a case filed on Sept 28. A team, led by SSP investigations, has been tasked with probing the matter.
A source said the police team investigated the PTI leader on Wednesday.
In the three FIRs regarding the protest, the police allege Mr Khan, while imprisoned in Adiala Jail, had called for a protest at Liaquat Bagh. In response, KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and his supporters declared their intention to participate, leading to violent demonstrations.
A senior police officer said PTI leaders, including Mr Khan and Mr Gandapur, called for the protest despite a ban.
Rawalpindi police have registered six cases across five police stations — two with the City Police Station, and one each with New Town, Waris Khan, R.A. Bazar, and Civil Lines — against PTI members, including lawmakers and local leaders.
The charges include violations of the Anti-Terrorism Act, defying the government ban on public gatherings, obstructing police duty, damaging police vehicles and endangering public safety.
Four cases include provisions under Section 21(1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act. Mr Khan and Mr Gandapur have been formally named under Section 109 of the PPC for aiding and abetting these offences.
£190m case hearing
Earlier, an accountability court held a hearing on the £190 million reference at Adiala Jail. Mr Khan and Bushra Bibi have yet to submit responses to the questionnaires issued to them.
The court granted Bushra Bibi’s request for an exemption from court appearance on medical grounds and adjourned the hearing till Nov 22.
LHC rejects plea
Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court dismissed a plea by Imran Khan’s sister, Noreen Niazi, seeking bail for her brother in all cases against him in Punjab and Islamabad.
An assistant attorney general presented a report to the court, stating that 62 cases had been registered against Mr Khan by the Islamabad police. The report was submitted in response to her petition.
After going through the report, Ms Niazi’s counsel asked the court to grant bail to Mr Khan in all the cases. However, Justice Farooq Haider turned down the request, observing that bail petitions must be filed personally by the suspect.
Wajih Ahmad Sheikh in Lahore and Mohammad Asghar in Rawalpindi also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024
KARACHI: Frustrated by what it perceives as continued “disrespect” despite being part of the ruling coalition and unmet commitments from the PML-N, the PPP on Wednesday formed a high-level committee to “raise issues” with Islamabad, delivering a pointed message to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that it could no longer offer unconditional support to his government.
In a brief statement, Bilawal House announced that the PPP chairman had formed a committee “to raise issues with the federal government”, which would come up with its report at the next meeting of the Central Executive Committee.
The committee comprises Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Naveed Qamar, Sherry Rehman, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, Makhdoom Ahmed Mahmoud, Punjab Governor Sardar Saleem Hyder, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi and Haider Gilani.
“The committee will interact with the federal government to raise the issues and will submit its report to the CEC meeting to be held next month,” the statement said.
PPP sources said the composition of the committee, with several senior party figures, reflected the “sensitivity of the issues” within the party.
The development came in less than a week after PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari delivered a scathing critique of his ruling ally, expressing frustration over the “disrespect” felt by his party despite being in the coalition and unmet agreements between the two parties.
The PPP chairman, in an informal conversation with reporters at Bilawal House, had also accused the PML-N of reneging on commitments after the 26th Constitutional Amendment’s passage. He had also hinted at a possible review of the PPP’s eight-month alliance in the Centre with the PML-N-led government in the PPP’s upcoming CEC meeting. He said he would present the “facts and ground realities” before party leaders to decide a future strategy.
“The individuals nominated to the committee have already been engaging with the federal government in various capacities,” said a senior PPP leader.
“However, the party’s top leadership has decided to streamline these efforts by forming a dedicated committee to address all pending issues with the federal government. Whether it’s about the Centre’s allocated funds for Sindh, matters related to south Punjab, or unmet promises made by the PML-N, the PPP will now raise these concerns under a single, unified platform.”
When asked what prompted the PPP leadership to devise such a plan, the response pointed to a growing sense of urgency within the party ranks, suggesting that the PPP feels the PML-N government has come to take its support for granted.
“The [PPP] chairman has already pointed out how a draft of the crucial legislation was passed by the federal cabinet, then it went to print, and at the final stage, we were provided the copy on the floor of the assembly to read and asked to vote in its favour,” the PPP leader added.
The PPP leader responded affirmatively when asked about any response from the government after the PPP chairman raised questions about the seriousness of PM Shehbaz and his team regarding talks on unmet commitments.
“Ishaq Dar Sahib [deputy prime minister and foreign minister] is already in touch with our senior parliamentarians to address the issues,” said the PPP leader.
“There’s been no formal meeting or sitting yet over the pending issues, as several members of the PPP committee and government dignitaries were out of the country, but we are consistently exchanging our thoughts and concerns with them. And one thing we have conveyed very loud and clear is that such an attitude can no longer work. What was meant to happen has happened, but from now on, we can no longer offer support in this manner.”
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024
ISLAMABAD / LAKKI MARWAT: As the military on Wednesday confirmed the martyrdom of 12 personnel in a terrorist attack in Bannu a day earlier, sources in the Interior Ministry said the federal government has decided to hold a multi-party conference (MPC) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on law and order.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif while paying tribute to the fallen soldiers said that the terrorists posing threats to the lives and properties of people will have to pay a heavy price for their acts and the fight against terrorism will continue till the elimination of this scourge.
Sources in the Ministry of Interior told Dawn that the matter about the MPC came under discussion during a meeting of the National Action Plan’s (NAP) apex committee on Tuesday.
While the committee decided to launch a military operation in Balochistan to deal with security issues there, a similar action in KP was ruled out not only by political parties in the Centre but also because of the provincial government’s reservations on it.
A senior official of JUI-F while talking to Dawn on Wednesday also expressed concerns over the idea of military operation in KP. He said the government should take all political parties as well as influential non-political groups in confidence before launching the operation.
The sources said MPC would be called by KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi in the first week of December and all the political and several non-political groups in KP would be invited. “The MPC is likely to be held in Governor House Peshawar and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi is expected to participate in it,” they added.
The governor has proceeded to perform Umrah, while the federal government is right now busy tackling the situation arising out of the PTI’s Nov 24 march on Islamabad.
Around 60 personnel of army and police have lost their lives in terrorist attacks over the past ten days with many more injured.
Experts say counter-terror operations can only succeed when people at large associate themselves with security forces.
“At the moment this is missing because of the circumstances since March 2022, as undoubtedly the local population acts as both social shield as well as eyes and ears for the security apparatus especially in case of any operation,” said Imtiaz Gul, executive director of Centre for Research and Security Studies think tank.
Earlier, an ISPR statement said that 10 soldiers and two personnel from Frontier Constabulary were martyred while six terrorists were killed in an attack on a joint check post in Bannu district on Tuesday.
Locals said they saw smoke billowing out of the post after the blast and then an intense exchange of fire took place between security forces and terrorists.
The ISPR said six terrorists were killed as their attempt to enter the check post was thwarted by security personnel, adding that the effective response forced the terrorists to ram an explosive-laden vehicle into the wall of the post.
The portion of the parameter wall collapsed due to the impact of the explosion and damaged the adjoining infrastructure which led to the martyrdom of 12 personnel.
Kalbe Ali in Islamabad also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024
ISLAMABAD: Council of Islamic Ideology Chairman Dr Raghib Naeemi on Wednesday claimed that the CII or he himself had not issued any formal decree or decision about the Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), adding that the transcripts of his speech had a ‘typo error’ that led to confusion and controversy.
Talking to reporters after a meeting of the CII, Dr Naeemi pointed out that all the sermons he delivered before Friday prayers in Lahore were written down and the same happened last Friday regarding the Sharia stance on VPNs.
It may be recalled that the CII had, in a proclamation last week, said using VPNs to access ‘immoral or illegal content is against Sharia.
“I had stated in the sermon that VPNs were not un-Islamic but the typo error in the transcripts showed that VPNs were un-Islamic that created the confusion among the masses,” the CII chief explained.
When Dr Naeemi was asked if his statement, issued last Friday, was written at the behest of some other authority, he said all his sermons were always written down by the staff of the Council.
He declined to answer why a correction was not made in the written statement, but added that he had personally clarified his stance on several news TV channels the following day.
CII member Allama Tahir Ashrafi rescued the chairman from journalists’ probing queries and explained that the Council had expressed concerns on several occasions in the past about four issues regarding social media.
“These four issues are; blasphemy, anti-state narrative, immoral and adult content, and character assassination of any individual, be it political or non-political,” Mr Ashrafi said, adding that all these activities are easily conducted by using VPNs.
He said the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has now taken a tough stance to address these issues, adding that the Council welcomes the move as these measures aligned with Islamic principles.
CII decision
The Council’s decision taken at the meeting earlier highlighted that social media platforms were effective tools in the modern world for public expression and sharing of information.
It noted that social media should not be used for spreading negative contents such as blasphemy, religious hatred, extremism, terrorism, obscenity, etc.
“If these regulations are being violated, then the use of social media will be un-Islamic,” the CII meeting noted. In reply to a question about the use of VPNs by state functionaries and ministries, Dr Naeemi recalled that the PTA had set Nov 30 as the deadline for all VPNs to get registered. He said those using unregistered VPNs after that deadline would be doing a wrong, illegal and un-Islamic act.
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024
ISLAMABAD: Amid reservations from key stakeholders, the government on Wednesday announced the New Energy Vehicle (NEV) policy aimed at transitioning 30 per cent of all new vehicles — imported and locally manufactured — in Pakistan to electric power by 2030.
Minister for Industries and Production Rana Tanveer Hussain unveiled the measures at a news conference, claiming that all stakeholders had been consulted in the policy-making process.
However, soon after his address, the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) issued a statement expressing strong reservations about the potential impact of the new policy on the local auto industry.
The new policy includes electric vehicles (EVs) and other emerging energy sources like hydrogen. As part of the policy, the minister said, the government introduced subsidies of Rs50,000 for electric motorcycles and Rs200,000 for three-wheelers (rickshaws), with a total allocation of Rs4 billion. These subsidies will be distributed through auctions. So far, two companies have been granted licences, and 31 more applications are under review.
Mr Hussain said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had no objections to the tax exemptions and subsidies provided under the NEV policy, adding that the transition to EVs would significantly reduce Pakistan’s dependency on costly imported petroleum products and help mitigate environmental pollution.
The policy also incorporates a reduction in the policy rate from 22 per cent to 15pc, with financing available at a 3pc Kibor (Karachi Interbank Offered Rate), with the government covering the financial cost. Consumers will pay monthly installments of around Rs9,000 over two years, an amount lower than their projected fuel savings.
A Credit Loss Guarantee managed by the Finance Division ensures no financial burden on the Ministry of Industries or the consumers.
Additional initiatives include offering free electric bikes or scooters to 120 high-achieving students and reducing duties on EV components to encourage local manufacturing. The government is also set to establish a New Energy Fund and a New Energy Vehicle Centre to support these measures.
Currently, the key global EV manufacturer, BYD Group of China, has obtained a manufacturing licence in Pakistan, while Dewan Motors is also set to launch its EVs under the completely knocked down (CKD) licence.
PAMA’s concerns
The PAMA raised several concerns regarding the NEV policy in a letter to the Engineering Development Board (EDB), warning that the import of completely built units (CBUs) at a reduced duty structure compared to CKDs could harm the local industry.
PAMA Director General Abdul Waheed Khan argued that CBU imports should only be allowed to companies with a minimum level of local manufacturing facilities, as per SRO 656, to avoid creating a junkyard and leaving customers without after-sales support.
The PAMA also recommended that the current policy for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) continue until 2030, and if any further incentives are granted to PHEVs, the same should be extended to HEVs.
It suggested that duties and incentives for NEVs be aligned with those for other vehicles starting from the third year. PAMA called for mandating CBU importers to establish local manufacturing facilities within a set timeframe to ensure long-term growth for Pakistan’s auto industry.
It further recommended aligning duties and incentives for NEVs with those for internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles that use petrol, diesel, or CNG, with incentives phased out by 2030. The association also suggested including renewable energy vehicles, such as biogas-fueled cars, in the NEV policy and ensuring policy continuity for HEVs and PHEVs.
Promotion of EVs
Meanwhile, Minister for Communications and Privatisation Abdul Aleem Khan, who is currently at COP29, said work has already begun to promote EVs in Pakistan.
Speaking at the Ministerial Roundtable Session, he said projects such as Green Urban Transport, Electric Vehicles and Renewable Energy were essential to meet future challenges posed by population growth in major cities and increasing air pollution.
Mr Khan said efforts are under way to establish 3,000 charging stations by 2030, a key step in revolutionising Pakistan’s auto sector. Power rates at charging stations will be lower, making EVs more affordable for consumers, he added.
The minister said the first fleet of biomethane hybrid buses in Karachi would save 100pc of fuel and that there is an option for a public-private partnership for the National Green Transport Project.
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024
UNITED NATIONS: The United States on Wednesday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza, drawing criticism of the Biden administration for once again blocking international action aimed at halting the 13-month conflict.
The 15-member council voted on a resolution put forward by 10 non-permanent members that called for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” and separately demanded the release of Israeli prisoners.
Only the US voted against, using its veto as a permanent member to block the resolution.
Robert Wood, deputy US ambassador to the UN, said Washington had made clear it would only support a resolution that explicitly calls for the immediate release of prisoners as part of a ceasefire.
China says setting a precondition for ceasefire is tantamount to giving the green light to continue the war
Robert Wood said the US had sought compromise, but the text of the proposed resolution would have sent a “dangerous message” to Hamas that “there’s no need to come back to the negotiating table”.
Israel has killed nearly 44,000 people in Gaza.
Members roundly criticised Washington for blocking the resolution put forward by the Security Council’s 10 elected members: Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Switzerland.
“It is deeply regretted that due to the use of the veto, this council has once again failed to uphold its responsibility to maintain international peace and security,” Malta’s UN Ambassador Vanessa Frazier said after the vote failed, adding that the text of the resolution “was by no means a maximalist one”.
“It represented the bare minimum of what is needed to begin to address the desperate situation on the ground,” she said.
President Joe Biden, who leaves office on Jan 20, has offered Israel strong diplomatic backing and continued to provide arms to the Jewish state, while trying unsuccessfully to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. After blocking earlier resolutions on Gaza, Washington abstained from a vote in March that allowed a resolution to pass demanding an immediate ceasefire.
A senior US official said Britain had put forward new language that the US would have supported as a compromise, but that was rejected by the elected members. Some members were more interested in bringing about a US veto than compromising on the resolution, the official said, accusing Russia and China of encouraging those members.
‘Green light’
France’s ambassador Nicolas de Riviere said the resolution rejected by the US “very firmly” required the release of Israeli prisoners.
China’s UN ambassador, Fu Cong, said each time the US had exercised its veto to protect Israel, the number of people killed in Gaza had steadily risen.
“How many more people have to die before they wake up from their pretend slumber? Insistence on setting a precondition for ceasefire is tantamount to giving the green light to continue the war and condoning the continued killing.”
Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon said before the vote the text was not a resolution for peace, but “a resolution for appeasement” of Hamas.
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024
KYIV: The United States shut its embassy in Kyiv on Wednesday morning due to what it called the threat of a significant air attack, a day after Ukraine used American missiles to hit a target inside Russia in what Moscow described as an escalation in the war.
With tension already running high over the use of US-made ATACMS missiles by Kyiv and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to lower the threshold for a nuclear strike, Ukraine fired a volley of British Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia on Wednesday.
On the other hand, in yet the latest step-up in military supplies announced by the US administration, a US official Ukraine would be provided with antipersonnel land mines to shore up its defences against Russian forces.
Russia accused the US of prolonging the “war in Ukraine” by stepping up weapons deliveries to Kyiv.
Moscow said the use of Western weapons to strike into Russian territory far from the border would be a major escalation in the conflict.
“If you look at the trends of the outgoing US administration, they are fully committed to continuing the war in Ukraine and are doing everything they can to do so,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Russian war correspondent accounts on Telegram posted footage they said included the sound of the missiles striking in Kursk region.
At least 14 huge explosions can be heard, most of them preceded by the sharp whistle of what sounds like an incoming missile. The footage, shot in a residential area, showed black smoke rising in the distance.
A pro-Russian channel said Ukraine had fired up to 12 Storm Shadows into the Kursk region, and carried pictures of pieces of missile with the name Storm Shadow clearly visible.
Britain had previously allowed Kyiv to use Storm Shadows within its territory. The Storm Shadows have a range in excess of 250km, empowering Ukraine to hit targets far deep into Russia.
A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, however, said his office would not be commenting on reports or operational matters.
The Kyiv government has been pressing Western partners for permission to use such weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia, and obtained the all-clear from US President Joe Biden to use the ATACMS this week, two months before Biden leaves office. His successor, President-elect Donald Trump, has said he will end the war, without saying how.
The Italian and Greek embassies said they too had closed their doors.
However, the State Department said the embassy in Kyiv would reopen on Thursday. Spokesman Matthew Miller declined to say what kind of threat had forced the embassy to shut down on Wednesday. “We take the safety and security of our personnel… extremely seriously,” Miller said.
Decisions slammed
Turkiye, a Nato member, sees Washington’s approval for Ukraine to use American missiles against targets inside Russia as a “big mistake”. “This step by Biden will not only escalate the conflict, but will lead to a greater reaction from Russia … (and) may bring the region and the world to the brink of a major new war,” President Erdogan said on the flight back from G20 summit.
“The slightest mistake made on the basis of this big mistake … will be like throwing the powder keg into the fire, so I advise everyone to be careful,” he said.
Washington’s decision to provide Kyiv with antipersonnel landmines a day after the supplies of US-made missiles drew sharp reaction from a global anti-landmine group. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) “condemns this terrible decision by the US”.
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024
The gateway to invoke judicial review of the high court is only when there is an application or appeal by the aggrieved or affected party. And in the absence of any such application, the high court may enter into “the domain of judicial overreach”, which is the exercise of power without any legal basis and the same falls within the ambit of interference and encroachment on the legislative and executive domain.
Since no comments were sought from FGEHA and the beneficiaries of the revised policy were neither put to notice nor impleaded in the proceedings, they were caught by surprise when the revised policy was struck down by the high court, the SC noted. It was mandatory to hear all affected and beneficiaries before any decision was taken, Justice Malik said, adding that this was sufficient to remand the matter back to the IHC to hear the appeal and petitions afresh giving everyone an opportunity to respond to the challenges made.
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024
ROMINA Khurshid Alam, the PM’s aide on climate change, has called for integrating disaster risk finance into its loss and damage efforts as a step towards resilience and long-term recovery and managing the escalating costs of climate change.
Speaking at an event titled ‘Pakistan and Global Shield’ at the Pakistan Pavilion on Wednesday, Ms Alam said extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and prolonged droughts underlined the urgent need for climate-vulnerable developing countries to formulate comprehensive strategies to address loss and damage.
“Integrating disaster risk financing into loss and damage efforts represents a proactive approach to managing the escalating costs of climate change. By combining innovative financial tools with inclusive, data-driven strategies, the governments and global partners can mitigate climate risks, support recovery, and foster resilience,” Ms Alam said. “Collaborative action today will safeguard communities and ecosystems for a more secure and equitable future.”
According to the PM’s aide, they explored the pressing gaps in pre-arranged financial protection —particularly in public infrastructure, agricultural livelihoods, and small businesses — and how the ‘Global Shield’ can bring unique value by aligning development efforts, fostering a country-led process, and leveraging pre-arranged financing instruments.
Subpar performance lowers country’s CCPI ranking
“…Pakistan’s approach serves as a model for integrating disaster risk financing into broader loss and damage efforts. This comprehensive, data-informed, and inclusive process sets an inspiring precedent for other climate-vulnerable nations,” she remarked.
Climate Change Secretary Aisha Moriani said the costs of most large-scale natural disasters were retained in the government books and only a few disaster-risk insurance or non-insurance instruments are present. “Unfortunately, insurance penetration, which could be crucial in mitigating financial losses, remains limited, and is less than 1pc of the country’s GDP,” she added.
Hamza Haroon, the Climate Vulnerable Forum Vulnerable 20 (CVF-V20) South Asia regional director, underscored the critical importance of addressing the needs of the most vulnerable communities in Pakistan through disaster insurance. “Introducing climate insurance products for disaster-vulnerable communities, their livelihoods and infrastructure is a cornerstone of policy efforts and programmes being taken by the Pakistani government for building climate resilience,” he said.
Mr Haroon suggested, “Engaging with insurance companies to introduce different disaster insurance plans for vulnerable communities and sectors will be a crucial step by the different relevant government organisations.”
Joerg Linke from GIZ Competence Centre Climate showcased the transformative potential of shock-responsive social protection systems that can be scaled up in Pakistan for climate-vulnerable communities.
Decline in CCPI ranking
On the sidelines of COP29, a report on the annual Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI), 2025 showed Pakistan down by one point to the 31st position due to high greenhouse gas emissions and energy use and subpar performance in climate policy and clean energy transition.
The index has been developed by Germanwatch as a tool to increase transparency in international climate change policy, according to its website.
The CCPI report pointed out Pakistan ranked high in GHG emissions, low in international and national climate policy; and very low in the renewable energy transition.
According to its revised Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) submitted in 2021, Pakistan needs to reduce emissions by 15pc by 2030 and increase renewable energy to 60pc of the energy mix by 2030. In order to meet this clean energy target, which required nearly $100 billion, the country would need increased investments in infrastructure and policy reforms.
The report urged Pakistan to plan a fossil fuel phase-out, implement more renewable energy projects, and improve monitoring and enforcement mechanisms for national climate policies.
“In 2012, the country decided on its National Climate Change Policy. This framework addresses Pakistan’s vulnerability to the climate crisis and includes adaptation measures for sectors such as water, agriculture, and biodiversity,” it said.
The report said renewable energy continued to account for a low share of the energy mix at 7pc as the country “still heavily relies on fossil fuels” push towards reliance on imported LNG could hinder a clean energy transition.
According to the report, Denmark being the best performer was at the fourth spot — the first three spots were empty because none of the countries could do enough to top the ranking — whereas Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE were at the bottom with renewable energy mix below 3pc.
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024
Despite efforts by the KP government to bring about a ceasefire in Kurram tribal district, the bloodletting has continued. An official delegation said on Sunday that a seven-day truce between rival tribes had been brokered. The latest round of violence was sparked by the atrocious attack on a convoy on Thursday in which over 40 people were murdered. In an apparent retaliatory move, over 20 people were killed in armed attacks on Friday.
Locals told media that there were few signs of a ceasefire on Monday, while officials said the death toll had risen further. The unfortunate fact is that Kurram has been rocked by tribal-cum-sectarian violence for the past several months, yet the state has preferred a firefighting approach, only stepping in after high loss of life. A land dispute is said to be the trigger for the violence that erupted in July, while deadly clashes also took place last year. In fact, tensions go back to 2007, when lethal clashes and their aftermath reportedly resulted in thousands of deaths.
The continuing violence indicates the complexity of the situation in Kurram. For there to be durable peace, the underlying factors fuelling tension need to be addressed judiciously. For one, terrorist and sectarian groups cannot be given any space to operate. These malignant actors use local tribal and land disputes to stoke the flames. Thorough action is needed to neutralise the militants in Kurram and the surrounding districts, while strict vigilance should be maintained to ensure that terrorists based in Afghanistan cannot cross the border.
Moreover, the state must ensure people can safely travel between cities and towns, and that violent groups do not maintain any ‘no-go areas’ in the region. It is the state’s duty to secure thoroughfares, and it must deliver on this obligation. Also, an official land commission has reportedly reached a conclusion regarding the dispute at the heart of the matter, but has not made its findings public due to ‘sectarian sensitivities’. These findings should be made public, and all sides must reach an amicable solution to end the dispute.
PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has blamed the KP administration for the poor security situation in Kurram. Unfortunately, over the decades, all organs of the state — the federal and provincial governments, as well as the security establishment — have repeatedly failed to maintain order, protect citizens and judiciously resolve disputes in Kurram.
This must change if the state wants to prevent further bloodshed in this volatile area. Local tribes had signed an accord in Murree in 2008, which was revalidated in 2011, to help bring peace to the region. This framework should be pursued to permanently end violence in Kurram.
Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2024
THE conclusion of COP29 in Baku has left developing nations — struggling with the mounting costs of climate disasters — feeling lowballed. While the adoption of a $300bn annual climate finance target by 2035 marks a threefold increase from rich nations’ previous $100bn commitment (which was met two years late in 2022), it is a pale shadow of what the world needs to slow down climate change. Climate experts have stressed the need for $1.3tr in annual climate finance to meet the Paris Agreement’s goals. The Global North’s insistence on private sector financing and blame-shifting to high-emitting economies like China and oil-rich Gulf states further muddles the discourse. For Pakistan, the stakes are particularly high. With a $348bn climate finance gap looming by 2030, our efforts at mitigation and adaptation risk being stalled. Despite this, we demonstrated resilience at COP29. From the Recharge Pakistan initiative to the National Climate Finance Strategy, Islamabad’s proposals reflect its determination to confront the crisis. The Pakistan Pavilion, a hub of dialogue and advocacy, was a testament to this commitment, even amid severe economic constraints. Yet, without significant global support, such steps remain aspirational at best.
The world cannot afford to delay action. With 2024 poised to be the hottest year on record and global temperatures on track to rise by 3.1°C by century’s end, inaction will be catastrophic. Wealthy nations must not only deliver on their $300bn promise but also ensure equitable access to these funds. Red tape that slows disbursement must be dismantled. At home, Pakistan must accelerate the transition to renewable energy, implement strict environmental protection laws, and establish a robust climate change monitoring system. Our cities need climate-smart urban planning, while rural areas require sustainable farm practices and water management solutions. The government must also enhance coordination between the federation and provinces on climate initiatives. However, real progress will depend on both domestic action and global solidarity. The recent floods, droughts, and other extreme weather events worldwide underscore our shared vulnerability. As we look towards next year’s summit in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, Pakistan must continue its advocacy for climate justice while demonstrating tangible progress on its own commitments. The presence of climate-sceptic leadership in major economies adds urgency to securing and implementing robust financing mechanisms now. The time for half-measures is long past.
Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2024
THE government’s decision to finance priority PSDP schemes on a three-year rolling basis is a significant step towards reforming the public development programme and cutting the throw-forward effect of scarce resources. The reform effort has been a part of IMF programmes since 2021. However, it seems to have been gaining momentum lately due to stringent monitoring by the Fund. Still, it would be premature to expect the shift in PSDP strategy to deliver immediate results.
Public funding through annual development programmes is an important tool governments have to create growth infrastructure. But infrastructure is expensive to build and resources for development are shrinking, with the private sector having little interest in funding these projects. Little wonder that our annual infrastructure spending of 2pc of GDP is one of the lowest in the region and well below the national GDP level requirement of 10pc. So the backlog is piling up and the throw-forward effect is becoming a drag on our shrinking resources due to successive governments’ inability to reduce wasteful expenditure and increase tax revenues. Besides, each incoming government — federal and provincial — is adding incomplete projects, compelling many to dub the country a ‘graveyard of development projects’, with tens of billions of rupees needed to close the growing infrastructure gap and fund incomplete schemes. While reforming these programmes is essential to ensure the efficient utilisation of taxpayers’ money and transparency — from the selection of a scheme to its completion — as well as to prevent cost and time overruns, which result from delayed project implementation, and to stop the rapid rise in the backlog of incomplete schemes, it is not enough to fill the funding gap for infrastructure development. It is also time that the authorities became innovative about financing infrastructure through private investment. Only private investment along with a reformed public development spending framework can help plug the growing gap.
Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2024
WHILE some powerful states are shielding Israel from censure, the court of global opinion is quite clear: there is enough evidence to support punitive action against the Zionist state for its flagrant campaign of extermination of the Palestinian people, which it launched in Gaza over a year ago. This has been validated by the arrest warrants issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ex-war chief Yoav Gallant by the International Criminal Court. The Hague-based court also issued a warrant for Hamas leader Mohammed Deif. The ICC believes that both Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant bear responsibility for the war crime of starvation as well as murder as the Israeli forces — under their command — have relentlessly and ruthlessly pounded the Palestinians of Gaza in the aftermath of the Oct 7 events. The reactions of the international community have been mixed to this largely symbolic decision. The US, Israel’s principal patron, has expectedly rallied to its ally’s defence, with President Joe Biden calling the ICC’s move “outrageous”. Incidentally, Mr Biden fervently welcomed the ICC’s arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, linked to the Ukraine war, last year. This again proves that for powerful states in the global community, the law is only reserved for enemies; for friends the sky is the limit. Yet some within the Western fraternity too, including Canada, Ireland and Spain, have said they will comply with the ICC warrant against the Israeli leaders. This is the right thing to do as the law must apply equally to all — friends and foes.
While it is unlikely that the Israeli leaders will be arrested, there is little doubt that one day Tel Aviv’s warmongers should be brought to justice for the immense humanitarian suffering that they have unleashed in occupied Palestine. Moreover, there should be international proceedings against Israel for its bloodthirsty assault on the people of Lebanon. Unless Israel’s leaders face the law for their crimes against humanity, violent regimes around the world will only be encouraged to disregard international norms.
Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024
PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ambitious plan to increase Pakistan’s IT exports from $3.2bn to $25bn in the next five years lacks the commitment needed to ensure the availability of an enabling infrastructure for industry — high-speed internet and VPN services. Chairing a meeting on IT sector reforms recently, Mr Sharif hoped that the target would be met. However, this is unlikely to happen given the recent measures taken by his government to slow down the internet and force the registration of VPNs to curb political dissent on social media. The industry association P@SHA and digital rights activists have all along warned the authorities against executing these disruptive plans in the larger interest of IT exports if not democratic values. All these warnings have fallen on deaf ears.
The industry rightly considers the steps to block VPN services as an “existential threat” for itself as it would result in disruptions and large financial and reputational losses for Pakistan’s IT exports and IT-enabled services, which are growing at an average annual rate of 30pc. With these curbs, IT exporters now expect financial losses of tens of millions of dollars in the short term, and irreparable reputational and intangible losses in the longer run. Indeed, it will deal a big blow to one of Pakistan’s fastest-growing industries, and may result in forced closure or out-migration of IT companies and talent. The restrictions on VPNs would make most IT companies, call centres, and BPO (business process outsourcing) organisations lose Fortune 500 clients and others who attach maximum importance to data protection and cybersecurity. It is only recently that Pakistan has been able to attract international IT business, which has helped to push exports and generate thousands of well-paying jobs for young people, especially women, many of whom find it difficult to get out of home and go to work. It will do no good to anyone if the government’s own insecurities force foreign firms to turn away and take their business elsewhere. The industry is willing to engage with the authorities to discuss ways to avoid blanket censorship at the cost of jobs, exports and the economy. Developing a framework that safeguards national security without compromising the IT sector’s operational needs is essential to achieve the PM’s new IT and IT-enabled services’ export plan.
Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024
GLOBALLY, women are tormented by the worst tools of exploitation: rape, sexual abuse, GBV, IPV, and more are among the most pervasive human rights violations that strip females of bodily autonomy. Unicef estimates show that over 370m women and girls today have endured rape or sexual violence before the age of 18. On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and the launch of the ‘UNiTE to End Violence against Women’ campaign, which focuses on the upsurge in crimes against women and the revival of obligations as well as demands action from policymakers, Pakistan looks back on a harrowing crime graph. The human rights ministry states that in the last three years, 63,000 cases of violence against women were reported; unfortunately, most cases do not come to light. In August, the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan was alarmed by the escalation in GBV nationwide; its report, Unveiling Shadows: An Overview of Gender-Based Violence Cases,2023, exposed an 81pc rise in the backlog of unresolved GBV cases.
While it is true that GBV incidents surge in times of conflict and socioeconomic distress, the blame for an odious state of affairs lies at the door of successive governments who did little to build protective systems, or counter patriarchal narratives. This, alongside a corrupt, feeble and prejudiced criminal justice system, has resulted in an environment where a rape occurs every two minutes due to a pathetic 3pc conviction rate. The JPC study shows a conviction rate of 5pc and a high acquittal rate of 64pc. Additionally, a slew of pro-women laws to curtail excesses against females and protect their inheritance, with ensuing amendments in several decrees, such as a mandatory prison term for honour killing, were rendered lifeless by the state’s inability to end impunity. The toxic machismo in assemblies ensured that a few were watered down: Sindh raised the marriageable age of females from 16 to 18 years through the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2014, but KP and Punjab maintained the age of marriage at 16 years. Balochistan continues with the colonial Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929.
Culture wars cannot be fought over women’s bodies. Violence — the daily reality of rural and urban women — has placed Pakistan among the most dangerous countries for females. This silent epidemic, a sobering commentary on the hold of misogynistic power structures that prevent equity and diversification, has to be acknowledged. Women parliamentarians need to unite for greater female representation in parliament and agitate for women’s education and stringent application of the laws. Orthodox elements, operating in consonance with the state to dilute the national discourse on women empowerment, must be defused. Without justice, the social contract between women and the state will unravel.
Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024
THERE has been a gradual erasure of the voices of most marginalised groups from Pakistan’s mainstream political discourse, so much so that we now rarely hear of their problems or efforts to address them. One of the main reasons for this is that political representation of marginalised communities has been reduced to mere tokenism, with seats in parliament handed out to handpicked individuals by political parties rather than being given to those who have demonstrably won their communities’ trust. This is, fundamentally, a betrayal of the Quaid’s vision for Pakistan. An excerpt from his speech from Aug 11, 1947, seems worth recalling: “[…] in the course of time, Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims; not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the state”.
Though Mr Jinnah referenced a particular religious group in his speech, the point he was making was arguably a general one. The founder believed that, before the Pakistani state, all citizens would be equal and equally worthy of political participation regardless of their individual differences. Unfortunately, as speakers at the recent ‘National Conference on Electoral Participation and Political Empowerment of Marginalised Groups’ also affirmed, this remains an elusive dream. The issues that marginalised communities — including non-Muslims, the differently abled, trans people and women — face require a fundamental alteration in the way the state views their citizenship, because it is clear that these communities are still not considered ‘equal’ in terms of their right to political participation. Such neglect, especially at the state level, has no place in the 21st century. We must remember that a nation is more than just the sum of its parts and that Pakistan cannot progress without embracing all its component communities and enabling them to participate equally in building a better future.
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024
ON the eve of the PTI’s ‘do or die’ protest in the federal capital, there seemed to be little evidence of the kind of mass mobilisation the party’s incarcerated founder may have been dreaming of. The usual enthusiasm demonstrated by the party’s cadres seemed missing on social media, and it seemed as if its leaders were putting up a brave face on national television while anticipating an underwhelming turnout. Yet, by the state’s preparations for Nov 24, one could have easily been led to believe it was the end of the line. In its panic, six key motorways — thousands of kilometres of roads connecting important parts of the country to some of its largest urban centres — were shut down; public gatherings were banned, and security personnel deployed in full force. A crackdown on opposition political leaders and workers was once again underway, and Section 144, previously announced for Islamabad, had been expanded all over Punjab. The administrations of Islamabad and Punjab seemed keen to demonstrate their awesome might and terrifying power, but it was slightly bewildering that this was being done for a protest which there was little obvious reason to treat as a serious threat.
It must be asked why our authorities lack confidence in their ability to maintain law and order. What made them think it was a good idea to shut down a large portion of the country for a protest that would have otherwise been limited to a few areas in Islamabad? It made no sense that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people who had nothing to do with the PTI’s political plans were also ‘preventively inconvenienced’ by the lockdown measures. The parties ruling today not too long ago held similar marches to Islamabad, each time vowing to topple the government. One does not recall there being such a fuss then as we see now, simply because, at the end of the day, protests and marches rarely accomplish much beyond allowing angry citizens to vent their frustrations. Letting them do so in a controlled environment and then eventually disperse would seem to be the rational way of dealing with such protests, rather than responding in a manner that the means adopted to control the protest start looking like a bigger nuisance than the protest itself. A little restraint is in order.
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024
THE COP29 climate summit in Baku has stretched past the Friday deadline into overtime, with negotiations still underway at the time of writing. Although the final outcome is not likely to be known for some time, suffice it to say that what started with a bang may end in a whimper.
The central sticking point at the summit was the establishment of a New Collective Quantified Goal for climate finance over which the Global North and Global South continued to remain at an impasse. Developed countries, historically responsible for the bulk of GHG emissions, were expected to commit to a robust financial framework. Instead, they stalled, with their draft proposals offering placeholder numbers and prioritising private financing over public grants.
Reportedly the wealthy nations have agreed to raise the climate finance figure to $300bn, while the developing nations want a bigger contribution. The amount proposed by the former is still in huge contrast to the minimum of $1tr a year needed by 2030 just to meet Paris Agreement goals.
It is particularly concerning given that Pakistan alone faces a climate finance gap of $348bn by 2030. Whatever the outcome, there will likely remain a deep disconnect between climate reality and wealthy nations’ commitments. The fact that developing nations like Sierra Leone were thinking of walking out of the deal speaks volumes for how short-changed they feel.
Besides how much must be paid, the question that emerged was who must pay. European nations insist that high-emitting economies such as China and Gulf states share the burden. However, the Global North cannot deflect responsibility for historical emissions. Meanwhile, the recent election of Donald Trump — who believes climate change is a hoax — as US president, cast a pall over the talks. Some of the wealthy nations believe the world’s biggest economy will want nothing to do with the finance goal during Mr Trump’s tenure.
Pakistan’s delegation, led by negotiator Arif Goheer, aptly criticised the draft agreement as “disappointing”. Our diplomatic efforts at the summit, including hosting over 40 events, demonstrate our commitment to global climate action. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reiterated the pressing need for grants, not loans, to avoid deepening debt traps. Domestically, Pakistan has taken steps to address climate vulnerabilities, unveiling its National Climate Finance Strategy and launching the Recharge Pakistan initiative to manage flood risks through ecosystem-based solutions. However, these ambitious plans require substantial financial backing.
While the eventual target may unlock some funds, accessing them through the current maze of red tape will remain a challenge. As the nations continue to argue, the international community must recognise that climate finance is not merely about numbers — it is about enabling vulnerable nations to survive and adapt to a crisis they did little to create. For now, we remain far from this essential goal.
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024
FORMER first lady Bushra Bibi’s video address to PTI followers has triggered a firestorm.
Her assertion implying Saudi Arabia’s role in her husband Imran Khan’s ouster — over what she said was Mr Khan’s barefooted pilgrimage to Madina — represents a remarkable display of political naivety.
Without naming any country, she claimed that ‘they’, who sought to “abolish the Sharia in their own country”, didn’t want a “champion of Sharia” like Mr Khan. Implicating the Saudis — after the Americans — in Mr Khan’s removal seems to have come out of left field. And what timing: the party is looking to stage its self-proclaimed last stand protest in Islamabad tomorrow.
Now with Ms Bushra’s claims detracting from the planned protest, the PTI is in full damage control mode, with Mr Khan saying her words were “taken out of context”. Party officials insist that she did not explicitly name the Saudis and claim her criticism was aimed solely at ex-COAS Qamar Bajwa, to whom calls were made following the visit. However, this does little to mitigate the fallout. With senior PTI figures calling the statement a “bombshell,” it is evident that Ms Bushra’s outburst has compounded the party’s struggles.
The government swiftly seized the narrative. The defence minister labelled the statement “vile and disgusting”, accusing the PTI of seeking to salvage its floundering political fortunes. He also alleged an internal power struggle between Ms Bushra and Mr Khan’s sisters. Meanwhile, the finance minister emphasised the enduring friendship between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, calling the remarks a “desperate mindset” unbecoming of political leadership.
Saudi Arabia has supported Pakistan in economic and diplomatic crisis. To drag such a critical ally into unfounded conspiracies is detrimental to Pakistan’s foreign policy. The PTI must reflect on the consequences of such a faux pas. At a time when Pakistan desperately needs support from its allies, such unwarranted controversies serve neither the PTI’s interests nor the nation’s.
Published in Dawn, November 23th, 2024
NORMALLY, stock markets rise gradually. In recent months, however, Pakistan’s stock market has soared to one record high after another. On Friday, the unrelenting bulls pushed the benchmark KSE-100 close to 98,500 points, with the index crossing the 99,000 mark during intraday trading. Stock markets are usually viewed as a ‘barometer’ of the health of an economy: the better the economy the better a bourse’s performance. Nevertheless, there appears to be a bizarre disconnect between Pakistan’s surging stock market and the sad state of both the nation’s economy and politics. Yet those invested in the stock market do have an explanation for the unusual growth momentum seen in the last few months in spite of the discrepancy between the market’s buoyancy and the troubles facing the economy and democracy.
On the political front, market participants do not see any credible threat to the present dispensation in spite of occasional protest calls issued by the PTI’s incarcerated leader Imran Khan. Political risks to economic stability are now seen as subsiding, following the 26th Amendment to the Constitution that has significantly curtailed the powers of the superior judiciary. The approval of the new IMF funding programme for the government and the slight upgrade of the sovereign credit rating of the country has strengthened this impression. Hence, we are witnessing the market continue its rallies regardless of the ‘final’ protest call from the PTI for a protest march on Islamabad on Sunday. On the economic side, stock investors find macroeconomic indicators stabilising, with the November inflation dropping to below 5pc, the current account running a surplus, borrowing costs plunging and bond yields dipping. On top of that, the IMF is expected to keep breathing down the government’s neck for the execution of structural fiscal, institutional and governance reforms for the realisation of its programme goals and debt sustainability. Still, some are careful to not discount the risks to the ongoing market momentum. These include resurgence of political uncertainty amid the eruption of a new wave of protests and violence, uncontrolled government spending, feared derailment of the IMF programme, and an oil price spike on the back of the present tensions in the Middle East. The current stock market boom may likely continue into the next year as expected by many. Or it may be just another bubble waiting to pop.
Published in Dawn, November 23th, 2024
WITH terrorist attacks surging, resulting in high casualties amongst both civilians and security personnel, it is time the state adapted its posture accordingly.
KP is at the centre of the militancy storm, though Balochistan has also experienced a significant upsurge in terrorist violence. Thursday’s reprehensible attack in Lower Kurram targeting a convoy, in which over 40 people were murdered, along with the loss of 12 security personnel in Bannu earlier, are the latest examples of the challenges confronting the state on the counterterrorism front.
In this regard, the Foreign Office has reiterated the need for the Afghan Taliban to take action against militants on their soil while domestically, a multiparty conference has been called to discuss the security situation in KP. A grand jirga is also due to be held to defuse the situation in Kurram after the massacre.
Pakistan has long argued that militants are finding shelter in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Indeed, the best efforts of its security forces will be neutralised if terrorists are able to find refuge in Afghanistan. That is why it is crucial for the state to regularly convey its concerns regarding terrorist sanctuaries to Kabul. It is also essential to calibrate our response with regional states, whose security is also affected by violent actors in Afghanistan.
Officials from China and Russia were in Islamabad recently to discuss this issue, and this coordinated approach to regional security must continue if the terrorist threat is to be eradicated. Domestically, it is important that terrorists are denied sanctuary. The Kurram atrocity, the constant attacks on our troops, as well as the Quetta railway station bombing two weeks ago all point to lacunae in our CT efforts, which need to be plugged quickly.
In fact, the number of security personnel — belonging to both the military and police — targeted by terrorists is disturbingly high, particularly for peacetime. Though official figures for the current year are not yet available, one estimate says that in 35 terrorist attacks in KP in October, 40 security men were martyred.
Meanwhile, while addressing a presser in early September, the ISPR chief had said that the army had lost 193 men “fighting terrorists”. If all the numbers are added up, it would mean that Pakistan has lost hundreds of security men this year so far.
As this paper has previously suggested, specialised CT units should be formed within the military, paramilitaries, and police forces. Terrorists tend to use asymmetrical methods to target the state, and security forces need to study these methods to counter violent actors, as traditional tactics are not getting the desired results. If need be, experts from friendly countries can be consulted to train specialised units in the latest CT strategies, and bring down troop losses.
Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2024
THE government has taken a commendable step by announcing a New Energy Vehicle policy aiming to ensure that by 2030, 30pc of all cars and 50pc of all motorcycles and three-wheelers sold will be electric-powered. Prefaced with a sobering note on the impact of climate change on Pakistan and the threats posed by global warming to the world in general, the policy seeks to curb emissions from fossil fuel-burning vehicles for a cleaner environment. It is encouraging to note that the authorities see NEVs as a multifaceted opportunity: for example, they are not only hoping that replacing fossil fuel vehicles with electric vehicles will help cut down on issues like persistent smog but will also yield benefits in terms of lowering demand for oil imports — a significant portion of our import bill. Similarly, the authorities also hope that having more NEVs on the roads will boost demand for electricity, which will help reduce the burden of idle capacity payments on the national exchequer.
The policy has, unsurprisingly, upset the entrenched players in the local vehicle industry, who must be worried that it may dent the sales of automobiles they have been manufacturing with very little innovation for the past many years. In the interests of fairness, the government should extend them reasonable incentives to upgrade their production facilities and technologies so that they may transition to NEV production, but this must not be done at the cost of delaying the implementation of its policy. Pakistan cannot allow itself to be distracted by attempts to let things continue as they are. Powerful lobbies have too often managed to derail even the best-intentioned plans to improve the lives of ordinary Pakistanis, and their concerns must be weighed against the greater good of the people. It is good that the government has woken up to the NEV opportunity, and it must implement its policy soon.
Published in Dawn, November 22th, 2024
PAKISTAN has now registered 50 polio cases this year. We all saw it coming and yet there was nothing we could do to stop it. While officials go around touting ‘increased’ vaccination coverage, the virus continues to gain ground, with Balochistan reporting 24 cases, Sindh 13, KP 11, and even the relatively better-administered Punjab and Islamabad recording a case each. The Expanded Programme on Immunisation, launched in 1978 with great promise, appears to have lost its way. While it achieved remarkable success in its early decades, its effectiveness against polio has been undermined by a slew of obstacles. However, while hindrances such as persistent vaccine refusals and security challenges do exist, it is time to ask the hard questions: does the state truly possess the commitment to eradicate polio? Or is there a reliance on international funding with nothing to show for it? An audit of polio funds at both federal and provincial levels is sorely needed. The public deserves to know how billions in aid have been utilised, and why, despite these resources, we continue to fail our children.
Simultaneously, the obstacles hindering eradication efforts do need targeting. Over 43,000 vaccine refusals in Sindh during October reveal a troubling trend. While Sindh’s chief minister has responded with characteristic bureaucratic fury — threatening to remove DCs and health officers — such reactions fail to address the root causes of vaccine hesitancy. With only 69pc of Sindh’s under-five children fully immunised, the solution requires more than administrative fixes. But perhaps most concerning is the coverage claimed and the continued detection of positive environmental samples. In Sindh alone, 66pc of samples from 20 districts tested positive for the virus this year. This calls into question the quality of our vaccination efforts. The EPI programme must be revitalised with a focus on strengthening routine immunisation rather than relying solely on supplementary campaigns. Polio workers must be protected, fairly compensated and supported. Public health campaigns must expand, engaging clerics and influencers to address vaccine fears. At the same time, parents must be made aware that refusing the vaccine is not just a private decision but a public health hazard. With Afghanistan showing fewer cases this year, the question is no longer whether polio can be eradicated, but whether Pakistan will rise to the challenge or continue to let its children bear the burden of inaction.
Published in Dawn, November 22th, 2024
WITH the situation in KP’s Kurram tribal district already volatile for the past several months, the murderous violence witnessed on Thursday has not come as a surprise.
At least 38 people were killed when a convoy of vehicles was attacked in an act of terrorism in Lower Kurram, in what is one of the biggest single mass-casualty attacks this year. The convoys consisted mostly of members of the Shia community. In this part of KP, militancy, tribal disputes and sectarianism, which has claimed both Shia and Sunni lives, have created a powder keg.
Sadly, the state has ignored the situation for years, or made only half-hearted efforts to address it. This year, a land dispute between two tribes metastasised into something uglier, with over 80 people killed since July, many of them while travelling by road. The people of Kurram took to the streets two weeks ago, demanding peace and safety on the roads. As yesterday’s atrocity showed, the state was unable to provide these.
Unfortunately, the centre and KP government are both so embroiled in politicking that the security situation of Kurram and other parts of the province fails to attract their attention. Statements are issued, promises are made, but the people of KP are left to fend for themselves as bloodthirsty terrorists ravage the province. Security institutions have also failed to flush out militants threatening peace in KP.
Kurram is particularly sensitive, due mainly to its sectarian dynamics and proximity to Afghanistan, in addition to the presence of militant groups and heavy arms. Yet the state has been unable to deweaponise the area, or judiciously resolve the tribal disputes that can spiral into communal bloodletting.
It would be a monumental mistake for the state to continue ignoring the violence in Kurram. Instability can easily spread to the adjoining districts if not contained, and vested interests can exploit sectarian differences in the region to create communal discord across Pakistan. The first duty of the state is to track down and punish the elements responsible for the latest attack. It cannot be business as usual after this brutal episode, and all state institutions must come up with solid plans to protect Kurram’s people, and other vulnerable populations in KP.
A multiparty conference to discuss law and order in KP has been scheduled for next month. Considering the latest outrage, this conclave should be held earlier. Moreover, along with state functionaries, the ulema and tribal elders must also work to defuse the situation and ensure a retaliatory spiral of violence does not ensue.
The state has dithered over Kurram’s security long enough. It is time to provide justice to the victims of violence, while terrorists and their facilitators must be tracked down and made to answer before the law.
Published in Dawn, November 22th, 2024
CONSIDERING that Balochistan has been experiencing a steady wave of terrorist violence over the past few months, particularly involving Baloch separatist groups, it is no surprise that the state has decided to use armed force to quell the insurgency.
Using the platform of the Apex Committee, the civil and military leadership said on Tuesday that an operation would be launched to counter terrorism and separatist violence in the province, while Nacta would be revitalised under the vision of Azm-i-Istehkam. The meeting also announced that a National and Provincial Intelligence Fusion and Threat Assessment Centre would be created and a “whole-of-system approach” adopted.
It is clear why the state has to take firm action to restore peace in Balochistan. In August, terrorists launched a coordinated series of attacks in different parts of the province; such incidents have been occurring since then with disturbing regularity. They include the massacre of miners in Dukki in October, as well as the bombings in Mastung and at the Quetta railway station earlier this month. In fact, the railway station atrocity, in which a large number of civilians were martyred along with security personnel, may have played a decisive role in the state’s decision to launch a military operation.
Apart from these incidents, there have been numerous grisly murders of non-Baloch workers, as well as the suicide bombing in October outside Karachi airport in which two Chinese nationals were killed. The latter incident threatened to imperil Pakistan’s relationship with Beijing. All these violent acts have been linked to Baloch separatists.
Yet it should be remembered that although Balochistan has witnessed numerous military operations over the decades, they have largely failed to bring long-lasting peace to the province. This time, with Nacta on board, things could be different. While the state goes after terrorists, innocent people should not be hauled away and there must be transparency regarding the operations. If relatives of the insurgents, especially women and children, are targeted in the name of tackling terrorism, it will be counterproductive and breed more disaffection.
As this paper has said before, while restoring peace is essential, addressing Balochistan’s socioeconomic deprivation is equally important as terrorists exploit poverty and underdevelopment in the resource-rich province to turn people against the state. Moreover, the state will need to keep channels open with the Afghan Taliban to ensure that Baloch insurgents are not able to find sanctuary in their country.
Better ties with Kabul can help thwart the malignant designs of the “hostile foreign powers” that the Apex Committee identified. Some regional states, such as India, are deepening relations with the Afghan Taliban. For peace in Balochistan and elsewhere in the country, Pakistan cannot afford to ignore these developments and must keep the lines open with Kabul.
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024
A TORTUROUS sense of déjà vu is attached to the latest health fiasco at Multan’s Nishtar Hospital. The largest public sector hospital in south Punjab was a crime scene in 2022 when four decomposing bodies were found on its rooftop. Two years later, the medical facility is back in the news: this time, its criminal negligence has led to the death of a renal-failure patient due to HIV/AIDS complications, while 30 others have contracted the infection during their dialysis treatment. These patients were put on dialysis machines reserved for HIV/AIDS cases. A fact-finding committee, constituted by the Punjab government, has now confirmed the shocking eruption at the hospital’s nephrology department. It also suspects that the dialysis equipment was not sterilised. What makes the tragedy more deplorable is the brazen manner in which SOPs were flouted: for over a year, the staff failed to perform the mandatory tests for dialysis patients; medical records were not maintained; and Nishtar Hospital’s infection control committee has not convened in months. This tragedy should serve as a sobering reminder of how the absence of accountability processes, along with unprofessional doctors and medical staff, and the paucity of funds have further damaged a callous healthcare system.
At present, Pakistan ranks second among nations with the sharpest rise in HIV cases in the Asia-Pacific region. This affliction presents a complex battle as stigma stalks it, which impacts societal attitudes towards patients, preventing them from reporting symptoms and continuing with treatment. When left untreated, HIV turns into AIDS whereby an individual’s immune system caves in. For those who do seek treatment, only a tiny percentage receive antiretroviral therapy. Another common reason for the spread of the virus, as seen at Nishtar Hospital, is the extensive and unchecked use of infected medical equipment by ill-trained healthcare personnel alongside poorly screened blood samples. Hence, customary condemnations from lawmakers will not do. The scale of the Multan HIV calamity and its potential spread through bodily contact, coupled with frequent reports about HIV/AIDS hazards from across the country, suggest that the disease can morph into an endemic problem. Only a pro-citizen approach that reduces stigma, penalises criminal health units and administrations, and adopts global medical developments in combating HIV transmission can improve the quality of our medical structure and save lives.
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024
IT is disturbing how a crime as grave as custodial death has culminated in an out-of-court ‘settlement’. The victim, Moiz Nadeem, was found dead earlier this year in a Karachi police station. The autopsy revealed multiple injuries from blunt force trauma. That two sons have pardoned four police officials, including a senior SP, for their alleged involvement in their father’s death raises questions about justice and accountability in Pakistan. This was not a wrongful death dispute between two parties as is seen in road accidents where forgiveness might be some resolution. This was a death in police custody. The very institution tasked with protecting citizens stands accused of taking a life under its watch. Such cases should be prosecuted by the state itself. The burden of justice cannot be placed on grieving families, who may be exposed to intimidation. The heirs insist that this ‘settlement’ occurred “without pressure, force, compulsion, coercion and enticement”. However, such claims ring hollow in a context where allegations of police influence over judicial processes are not rare. How can we, then, believe that there was no external pressure? The fact that one of the suspects sought to wriggle out of being placed on the no-fly list only deepens suspicion.
The case follows an unfortunate template: a citizen dies in custody, evidence of foul play emerges, officials face charges, and mysteriously, the matter ends in ‘compromise’. The court’s reliance on affidavits submitted by the heirs casts doubt on the integrity of the process. Every time such a settlement occurs, public trust is eroded and those who abuse their authority are emboldened. Until such deaths are treated as crimes against the state itself, this cycle of impunity will continue. The judiciary must recognise that allowing such deals is tantamount to licensing state violence. No society can maintain the rule of law when those entrusted to uphold it can literally get away with murder.
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024
COVID-19 may be a thing of the past for the rest of the world but in Pakistan, the lockdowns are here to stay.
Lockdowns to control the smog and lockdowns to control demonstrations — the state has tried and tested all. One could perhaps argue that the internet is also in lockdown but for the fact that its slow speed and blocked apps are a constant state of affairs, while the notion of a lockdown is temporary, with an end in sight.
The lockdown is here because the PTI is on its way again from KP to Islamabad with a crowd. Its size varies on social media, depending on who is commenting, while mainstream media too is in lockdown. On the latter, while discussions about the protest are aplenty, there is little to no reporting. And there are no visuals. In a way, it’s like the smog in summer — everyone knows it’s still there but it doesn’t need to be addressed because it’s less visible.
No one can say whether the protest will end with Ali Amin Gandapur and Arif Alvi dancing to the tune of The Final Countdown, with parliament in the backdrop. But there is merit to the argument that the lockdown in itself is a defeat for the government for it shows not just nervousness but also puts paid to its claims of a healthy economy with interest from investors abroad.
The PTI understands this even better than it did in October. Its journey to Islamabad is making leisurely progress, and it is comfortable in the knowledge that the government is scoring an own goal by locking up half the country, leading to economic losses as well as running the risk of shortages of necessities in urban centres. At the same time, the slow march is tiring out police which was deployed days earlier. In a vlog on Sunday night from D-Chowk, Asad Toor reported that Sindh Police recruits were without warm clothes as they patrolled on a cold winter night.
The PTI is comfortable in the knowledge that the government is scoring an own goal.
But this is not to say the PTI faces no risks. Those in government in KP and others who are part of one assembly or another also do not want to upset the applecart too much, despite the pressure from Imran Khan and the workers. This was evident not just in the constant reports of PTI leaders who wanted to delay the protests; in addition, the criticism being directed at Gandapur since his disappearance at the previous protest in Islamabad from the party base also shows the pressures the KP government has to juggle.
At the same time, the crowds accompanying the KP rally shows that the party workers and supporters are not sufficiently disgruntled by the leadership to stay at home.
However, it is still worth asking what the PTI hopes to achieve. Overthrowing the government as an aim is great for rhetoric but it is doubtful if even the party ideologues believe it. Second, in Pakistan, protests usually set the stage for a weakening of a government rather than prove to be the final blow. But in this specific case, the PTI might be more interested in using it as a bargaining chip. There is now a strong perception that the release of Imran Khan’s wife was a result of the previous protest. This time around too the reports of the negotiations held before this protest point to this; the PTI asked for the release of Yasmin Rashid and other prisoners in Lahore as a confidence-building measure.
If the demand is (or isn’t) conceded, this game of cat and mouse can be played again and again.
Perhaps, though, it is also important to understand why the PTI can play this game repeatedly, considering it has a government in KP and the province’s short distance from Islamabad.
It appears there was some understanding at the time of election that depriving the PTI of forming a government in KP would perhaps lead to far too much instability. And this is why the party now has the ability to march in large numbers to Islamabad. While there are constant threats to impose governor’s rule in the province, this would be a foolhardy step. The already volatile situation in KP will simply worsen.
However, even this would not have been enough for the PTI to mount such shows of power were it was not for the fragile economic situation.
Despite the non-stop repression in Punjab, each such occasion allows young men to play a cat-and-mouse game with the police for hours. It may not show that Pakistan is at the cusp of a revolution but the possibility of violence on the streets cannot be discounted. With Pakistan’s demographic numbers and the economy, this is a risk no one can calculate accurately, regardless of the multiple analyses about Punjab’s DNA of subservience.
This is what PTI and Khan are counting on. And not a revolution.
Postscript: Perhaps this is a good time to ask what the state plans to do with the PTI prisoners. It has been over a year since these people were detained — in jails as well as military custody — without any kind of trial. We are told via trusted journalists and tajziakaars (analysts) that they cannot be freed, cannot be forgiven, for the ‘crime’ was so great. And that this is also to create deterrence.
Indeed, Pakistan society has always been big on deterrence — if we hanged a few thousand in the streets, corruption would stop, or if a rapist was hanged, the crime would stop. But thankfully, for reasons of incompetence, we have rarely managed such events of brutality, though it has allowed the myth to continue.
Still, it needs to be pointed out that at times a state needs to calculate if the deterrence it creates at the cost of people’s anger and hatred is worth the risk. The prisoners need to be released, all of them, and especially the women. The trials can continue but without this endless incarceration. It is time to send Yasmin Rashid home.
The writer is a journalist.
Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2024
IS Donald Trump the Godot the world is waiting for, with apprehension and hope? But Godot, as Samuel Beckett’s 1949 cult play suggests, may not show up at all, ever. In fact, Godot, whoever he be or whatever power he may hold over his characters, could be no more than a figment of a deliberately absurd imagination.
More realistically, Godot perhaps symbolises ennui that beset a generation of intellectuals after the gory victory of Churchill over a gruesome Hitler. Many couldn’t tell the difference between the colonial racists, just as it is difficult for pacifists to divine Keir Starmer from Boris Johnson, or Trump from Joe Biden. For Estragon and Vladimir the two morose tramps conversing under a withered tree, their waiting itself was their life. They needed each other, and they were fed up with each other. At one point, they vented their spleen by cursing each other. “Vermin”, “Cretin”, “Moron”, the expletives climaxing as one silences the other with the ultimate insult: “Critic!”
In today’s living absurdity, the stakes are truly existential not just in an ideational sense. Biden and Vladimir Putin are posing a mortal threat to the planet, Biden more than Putin, as one is inclined to believe with the support of Douglas Macgregor, Scott Ritter, Theodore Postol and Ray McGovern among America’s leading security analysts.
Yet, much of the world seems to be waiting for Trump one way or another, mostly with apprehension, like passengers in a plane with engine failure, bracing for a crash landing, heads lodged firmly in the knees or thereabout. Others see him as the saviour they were waiting for. There are those who haven’t a clue what they are in for with Trump though they would like to see him as an ally as they saw Biden in many ways. This category includes Benjamin Netanyahu and Narendra Modi. Nato members fear Trump would embrace Putin and throw Ukraine under the bus. Putin sees in him an outside chance to win the war allowing him to focus instead with China on building BRICS.
Trump the dealmaker could put petrodollars in one scale and Netanyahu’s future in the other.
Those who see Trump as a saviour include Israeli settlers of the West Bank and potentially also of Gaza. For the Palestinians, it can’t get any worse. For them, the attributes ascribed to Trump as the ogre, have been usurped and enacted by the supposedly agreeable Biden and his advisers, Antony Blinken and Jake Sullivan, principally.
Many supporters of Palestine, most of them Muslims in Michigan, voted for Trump as the lesser of the evils. It was a desperate gamble against extremely heavy odds. Biden feigned support for human life in Gaza by promising to stop the arms flow if Israel didn’t open the border for food and medicines to save the remaining women and children, and possibly the hostages too, from the visitations of arriving winter. In reality, Biden openly described himself as a Zionist, and continued to indulge Netanyahu’s sadism unleashed on Arab women and children.
Trump promised Netanyahu the world in his previous avatar but is likely to settle for his eviction if it strengthens Israel’s hand in striking a deal with Arab states. The dealmaker he fancies himself as, saw Trump turning his back when a leading Saudi dissenter was chopped into pieces on the alleged orders of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. He put two competing interests in the balance and concluded that $100 billion worth of arms to be sold to Riyadh held greater charm than beating the drums of human rights and personal liberty.
The Saudis are incipiently hostile to an independent Palestinian state fostered by Iran and Arab masses, but are in no position to disown it publicly. They may be wishing for Trump to deal a crushing blow to Iran but fear the risk to their own survival as greater. Trump the dealmaker could put petrodollars in one scale and Netanyahu’s future in the other and offer a state with municipal rights to the Palestinians.
Trump may not be the Godot Netanyahu sees him as. Because Iran would need to be placated too, possibly with the relaxation of sanctions he imposed on Tehran. Godot, if he exists, has no easy choices. Iran is a handful, and it holds a tricky prospect, given its nuclear threshold and capability with advanced missiles, to disrupt Trump’s dream for a great America.
As for Modi, Trump had the words to flatter his ego. “I remember India before… It was very torn. There was a lot of dissension, lot of fighting. And he brought it all together. Like a father would bring it together. Maybe he is the father of India. We would call him the father of India … I think he has done a fantastic job,” Trump said before meeting Modi in New York.
To India’s consternation he also met then Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan, and reportedly offered to mediate on the Kashmir dispute. A few things have happened to worry Modi under Biden’s watch. He was invited as a key member to the anti-China Quad, but the group is now considered dead in the water. The Anglo-Saxon AUKUS — involving Australia, the UK and US has supplanted it.
Two other events have threatened to queer Modi’s pitch internationally, and both occurred under Biden’s watch. His closest political advisers are struggling with a US indictment in an assassination plot targeting an American citizen, a Sikh activist. More worryingly, his closest associate in the business world, Gautam Adani, is wanted in the US in a case of high corruption.
Reports say Modi could bail out of the crisis with a lucrative arms purchase as the Saudis did. However, that could annoy his trusted friend, Putin. There are no easy answers for what Trump might do. The best hope probably comes from a theatre critic who described Samuel Beckett’s two-act work as “a play in which nothing happens, twice”.
The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.
jawednaqvi@gmail.com
Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2024
“SOCIALISM is dead; Long Live Socialism,” wrote fellow Berkeley scholar Roger Burbach in 1997, bravely predicting socialism’s rise in new forms even as older ones were falling. As capitalism’s damaging toll on humans expands hugely, the search for alternatives to the beast assumes urgency. Many think this means ending wage labour, profits and private capital, which they wrongly see as capitalism’s core.
But sociologist Karl Polyani argued that these had existed even before capitalism for long. Capitalism rose only in the 17th century when capital’s interests became society’s dominant logic to replace other human concerns, with a false promise that its sway ensures common welfare.
Capitalism expands its profits by penetrating all human spheres and coaxing humans to satisfy all their needs via markets that they are satisfying via family, community, state or nature for free, arguing that market solutions better cater to all human needs. But the ills of this idea, spread cunningly by owners of big capital, are visible now in high inequity, environmental loss, resource wars and irrelevance of millions of workers as AI spreads fast, as capital’s dehumanising interests hold sway even over human realms that transcend commercial logics. Thus, ending capital’s corrupting sway over all other human concerns is imperative.
Socialism is usually seen as a system with state-owned production assets. But Polyani’s insights about capitalism’s core inspire a new vision of socialism as a system with common welfare as its dominant logic/ aim (rather than an uncertain derived one as in capitalism) that allows all ownership forms that don’t nix common welfare. This vision can spawn many forms of socialism, as the plural in the title suggests. The Nordic model is a form built on private capital, with common welfare ensured via provision of public social services, big state investment in education, health, and other human capital services and strong labour-force protection via unions and safety nets.
Ending capital’s corrupting sway is imperative.
But poor states lack the globally competitive economies to generate enough taxes to fund a generous welfare state. They need a conjoint twin: a developmental-cum-welfare state where the first twin spawns an inclusive economy that gives income options to all able beings and the welfare twin that gives safety nets to the few labour-deficit beings. But new forms must avoid the ills of failed forms: over-centralised political and economic power that disempowers and disincentivises masses, kills energies and creativity and causes political autocracy and economic unproductivity.
Oddly, huge oligopolies are producing some such results even in capitalism that aged oligarchs did in former USSR. Donald Trump wants to keep afloat US oligarchies that can’t compete with efficient Chinese units, just as Soviet oligarchs tried against efficient US ones 50 years ago.
Politically, new forms must embrace multiparty democracy over a one-party system and disperse power horizontally and vertically. Empowered local bodies must empower community organisations to help gain market power, protection, assets, skills and social services. The economic system must be similarly devolved and encourage a wide range of ownership forms, ie, employee-owned, non-profit, producer cooperatives, dispersed ownership by different state levels and bodies and private companies, with a bias for micro, small and medium units.
The state must review the cause of poverty among small producers and labourers in rural and urban areas in different regions. Such bottom-up analysis will reveal not only the lack of economic and social investment by the state for such groups as key factors but also their exploitation and marginalisation by markets and local elites. This will give a wide, structural agenda that covers legislation, policies, strategies, projects, services and institutional reform at federal, provincial and local levels.
This major investment in poor regions will drive national progress as reduced poverty ignites win-win growth that benefits society. Our internal market is small, despite our large population, given low incomes. Increasing incomes will expand the national market size and profits for producers. This in turn will expand incomes for the poor and hence national market size and ignite a virtuous progress cycle. Local initiatives will tap local savings digitally to plough them into local investments. Smart regulation will replace deregulation and broader state units restructuring will replace only privatisation.
Such devolved and empowering socialisms will use the political and economic mobilisation of masses as the key force driving both a state and economy of the people, by the people and for the people.
The writer is a political economist with a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.
murtazaniaz@yahoo.com
X: @NiazMurtaza2
Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2024
SYSTEMS in Pakistan often operate below potential. We could be close, but remain mired in red tape, beholden to power structures and burdened by hidden and friction costs. Despite an educated middle class and a growing youth bulge, we barely make a dent in the world. Our banking sector is no exception.
Banks are crucial to capital formation, documentation and digitisation of the economy. Implementers of monetary policy, banks are the first port of call when it comes to improving national savings rate, international trade or private sector credit. Without healthy banking, standards of living or the GDP will not improve.
So why isn’t our banking there yet?
One could be forgiven for believing that our banks are creating all the value they can, based on the recent national debate on banking profitability. However, Banking on our Banks, a joint analysis by CERP and Alchemy Technologies, asks if we are looking at the right benchmarks for evaluating banking competitiveness.
A top-down approach with a focus on safety is restricting growth.
If we shift our gaze to banks in similar markets, there is a widening performance gap. Consider India’s HDFC bank. Twenty years ago, HDFC and HBL were comparable in size. In 2024, HDFC ranks 11th globally by market capitalisation. The closest Pakistani bank is at number 394. HBL stands at 477. While the volume of reserves, market size and regulatory contexts must be acknowledged, it speaks to the impact of the decisions made by both banks.
Our best banks reveal similar shortcomings in efficiency, profitability, and growth, when measured against their peers in the region who compete by focusing on growing advances with innovative products and technology-driven improvements to credit allocation and disbursement. Pakistani banks focus on investments and returns on government debt. The outcome of both choices is clear.
When we widen our lens to include context that our banks operate in, course correction becomes urgent. By conservative estimates, frictional costs in Pakistan’s tax collection system cause leaks of Rs2 trillion every year, including the opportunity cost of currency in circulation (Rs9tr) and non-interest-bearing current accounts (Rs6tr).
Part of the challenge in our over-regulated banking sector is the emphasis on safety, minimising risk at the cost of innovation. Innovation results from a desire to change but often breaks things. When safety is the prime motivator, breakage becomes a four-letter word.
For decades, the regulator has driven banking innovation — ATMs, national connectivity, faster check clearance, branchless banking and now digital and mobile banking. Yet many believe this top-down approach with a focus on safety is restricting risk appetite and growth.
Banks are incentivised to lend within well-trodden paths, prioritising uncompetitive sectors like energy, agriculture, and textiles while ignoring high potential industries. A banking-specific mutation of the ‘Dutch disease’. Absence of competition discourages new product development and the ability to bet on new sectors. Cumbersome approval processes and predictable returns deter innovation with both the regulator and within banking boards.
We need market-driven incentives, responsive regulators, forward-looking boards and a sandbox approach to experimentation. Otherwise, banks will continue to prioritise comfort lending over bold decisions necessary for economic transformation. Small and medium enterprises are the backbone of economic growth but remain a banking stepchild. Export focused borrowers pose a different challenge. Their tech focus makes them asset-light and talent-heavy making them unsuitable for asset-backed loans. The same is true for the growing low-cost private school market. Partly informal, partly under the radar, it doesn’t fit within conventional credit frame-works.
Is it just burdensome compliance and underwriting requirements that deter banks? Or is there more to the equation that prioritises larger exposures? The mystery element ‘X’ is scale. We scaled the liability side but left advances behind. Data-driven models, market-relevant pricing and customer-driven products are one solution.
Digitalisation, reducing inefficiencies and building anew come with a price tag. There are regulatory burdens to overcome, skittish investors to pacify, unprecedented economic challenges to confront. The question is not if these challenges are surmountable — they are, but if we are willing to take them on. The path forward demands courage for regulators to rethink models, for banks to take calculated risks, for policymakers to align incentives with innovation.
But only systems worthy of Pakistan’s extraordinary potential can help us reach it.
Jawwad Farid is professor of practice at IBA, Karachi. Rimmel Mohydin is an associate director at CERP.
Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2024
IT’S not easy being a child in Pakistan. Just this past week, children across the country have endured the following: some caught polio; some were targeted in sectarian violence; millions were exposed to toxic levels of air pollution; some were dragged out of their school vans at gunpoint and kidnapped; millions had to stay away from their schools due to environmental degradation and political instability.
And that’s aside from the systemic issues. Twenty-six million children are permanently out of school; 70 per cent of all 10-year-olds cannot read or understand basic texts. According to 2018 data, Pakistan has one of the highest rates of child malnutrition in the developing world, with 33pc of children underweight and 44pc stunted. Almost 800,000 are severely wasted, says Unicef. Meanwhile, climate shocks, including droughts, floods and heatwaves, are affecting Pakistani children, undermining their access to food, healthcare and education. And this challenge will be exacerbated as the number of children affected by climate crises will increase fourfold by 2050.
This is the baseline for Pakistani children in a world that is not going to be kind to them over the coming decades, as made clear in The Future of Childhood in a Changing World, a new Unicef report.
We cannot ignore this demographic. By the 2050s, Pakistan will be among the four countries that is home to one-third of the world’s children, along with India, China and Nigeria. We will have 129m children, comprising 32.9pc of the population (around 5.5pc of the global child population). Indeed, Pakistan is one of the few countries in the world where the percentage of children in the population remains stable — rather than reduces — over the coming decades.
The world will not be kind to Pakistan’s children.
There will be some differences in the state of childhood over the next quarter century, however. The report captures these in the form of ‘megatrends’ set to define childhood through the 2050s: demographic transitions, climate and environmental crises, and the growing prevalence of frontier technologies.
Here’s what this means for us: more Pakistani children will live in urban settings, which bring different pressures ranging from heatwaves to severe inequality (for example, the report points out that urban children in the poorest quintile are twice as likely to die before they turn five than children in the richest quintile). More children will also migrate (internally or abroad), and so endure the challenges of displacement and dislocation, including issues ranging from food insecurity to family disruption. And more will be the victim of environmental hazards. The severe toll of this over the coming years is best understood by considering a contemporary — and currently horribly relevant — data point: that air pollution is the second leading risk factor for death in children younger than five years.
Much of the report focuses on the potentially transformative role of new technologies: “Connectivity and digital skills, when used correctly in learning environments, could equip millions for future jobs, boosting economies and breaking generational cycles of inequality. AI and neurotechnology could drive transformations in education and healthcare.” But the report is quick to recognise that technological advances and resulting advantages will not be evenly spread. Today, over 95pc of people in high-income countries have an internet connection, compared to 26pc in low-income countries. Poor investment in digital infrastructure, lack of funding, and growing obsessions with limiting internet permissions means that this digital gap will not be addressed anytime soon, and may in fact worsen.
Pakistan is not currently on a trajectory to reap the benefits of neurotechnologies or artificial intelligence. Instead, our youth will be subject to their pitfalls — surveillance, exploitation, manipulation and discrimination. The spread of AI will only worsen the digital divide experienced by young Pakistanis, particularly those who are already marginalised on the basis of language, ethnicity or gender.
Some may remember how at the turn of the century Pakistan was in a thrall to fantasies about how the country would reap its demographic dividend. Two decades in, we know that the predicament of our youth will be dire — much as described at the outset of this piece, possibly worse — unless significant additional investment is made in education, healthcare, job creation, climate resilience and adaptation, digital literacy and infrastructure, and maternal and infant health.
Instead of prioritising these, our state is squandering its resources on quashing political opposition and stifling free speech. In the name of national security, we are forgetting to secure the nation’s greatest asset and treasure — its children.
The writer is a political and integrity risk analyst.
X: @humayusuf
Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024
AS Pakistan embraces the digital age, women face a troubling new reality: technology-facilitated violence.
Digital platforms, intended to open opportunities in education, employment, and civic engagement, have also become instruments for gender-based abuse. This threat — from cyber harassment and stalking to deepfake pornography — is more than a personal affront; it is an assault on women’s digital freedom, mental well-being, and societal participation, demanding urgent and targeted reforms to reclaim online spaces for all.
This rise in technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) against women mirrors a troubling global trend that intensified during the Covid-19 pandemic as women increasingly turned to digital platforms for work, education, and social connection. This surge in abuse has exposed critical gaps in legal protections, calling for urgent regulatory reform.
According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, 85 per cent of women worldwide report experiencing some form of online harassment, with rates even higher in the Asia-Pacific region at 88pc. In Pakistan, this issue is acute: nearly 90pc of harassment complaints received by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) are filed by women, according to the Digital Rights Foundation. This abuse impedes women’s access to education, employment, and political engagement: 70pc of female students report harassment, with 20pc considering dropping out while 45pc of working women face online abuse, with 15pc leaving their jobs as a result. Women in public office face triple the online abuse of men, with 67pc contemplating leaving politics altogether. These statistics underscore the critical need for comprehensive protections to ensure women’s safety in digital spaces.
The psychological and social toll of these attacks is profound. Victims report depression, anxiety, and isolation, leading many to withdraw from online spaces, which further impacts their social and professional lives. For young women, TFGBV can disrupt their education and discourage them from pursuing careers in fields such as STEM or public service.
Nearly 90pc of harassment complaints received by FIA are filed by women.
Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), 2016, was introduced to address cybercrimes, yet its provisions fall short of adequately addressing TFGBV. While the Act includes clauses aimed at protecting personal dignity and privacy, it lacks explicit provisions for TFGBV and suffers from limited enforcement capacity. The FIA’s Cyber Crime Wing, tasked with enforcing the Act, operates only 15 cybercrime stations with 144 officers nationwide to serve a population exceeding 240 million.
Additionally, the requirement for victims to file complaints in person discourages many women, particularly in rural areas, from reporting incidents of online violence. Peca also lacks a transnational mandate to require social media companies to share data necessary for prosecuting offenders, allowing perpetrators to act with relative impunity.
Addressing TFGBV in Pakistan requires a collaborative approach that engages governments, technology companies, feminist organisations, and digital rights advocates.
First, legal reforms are essential. A comprehensive legal framework with specific provisions for TFGBV is needed to address current ambiguities, with laws regularly updated to keep pace with technological advances. Equally essential is strengthening enforcement by equipping the FIA’s Cybercrime Wing with adequate resources, providing gender sensitivity training, increasing cybercrime stations, and eliminating the in-person reporting requirement.
Collaboration with technology companies is also vital to ensure social media platforms adhere to local regulations. Platforms should be required to share data necessary for investigations and implement transparent, gender-sensitive content moderation to curb abusive content. Leveraging AI to flag harmful content can further enhance these efforts.
Providing victims with accessible support services is crucial. Strengthening referral systems to offer counselling, legal assistance, and digital literacy training can empower women to navigate the legal landscape and protect themselves online. Public awareness campaigns are also key to educating communities about TFGBV, fostering greater understanding of its impacts, and promoting proactive responses.
Addressing TFGBV is not just about safeguarding victims — it’s about realising a Pakistan where digital opportunities are equally available to all. By creating a digital space that is inclusive, safe, and empowering, we unlock the full potential of women’s contributions to Pakistan’s progress, ensuring that no one is left behind in the journey towards a just and equitable society.
The writer is the deputy resident representative of UNDP Pakistan.
Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024
BARRICADING the capital, using cargo containers to block roads, closing highways, breaking up protest rallies, banning public gatherings, arresting opposition supporters, raiding homes of opposition leaders, policing the media, orchestrating internet outages, suspending mobile network services and instituting cases against political opponents. That being the state of play today, what does it all indicate? It speaks of a siege mentality on the part of the government and establishment — a state in which they see themselves in constant danger and fearful all the time of being overwhelmed by opponents. This urges them to take strong-arm measures, not occasionally but incessantly.
Strong-arm actions do not signify a strong government. Instead, they signal weakness, a lack of self-confidence and, above all, a failure to address a political challenge by political means. It lays bare a government unsure of itself that has no political solution to a political problem. This, some would say, is not new and merely a throwback to past periods of repression and use of high-handed tactics from a familiar playbook. That may be so although one can argue that the present scale of authoritarian actions go much further than those witnessed under a civilian government before.
But the more important question is what it signifies about the present ruling hybrid coalition. When measures aimed to contain the opposition and dissenting voices involve the government routinely locking itself up, laying siege to itself and shutting itself off from ground realities, what does that really say? It reflects a government that desperately seeks to preserve power but implicitly acknowledges it does not have popular support or legitimacy and can only deal with opponents by using the state’s machinery of repression. It also tries to over-insure itself by efforts to control the streets, courts, parliament, media and the digital space.
The irony is that the more authorities try to control the more they feel they need to but the less they are able to. It becomes an endless game of whack-a-mole in which the presumed gains are transient and keep warranting more actions without any assurance of success in subduing the opposition or stifling criticism. A siege mentality has wide-ranging implications — for governance, politics, economy and for international perceptions of the country.
Strong-arm actions do not signify a strong government.
The implication for governance of a ‘siege mindset’ is that it preoccupies the ruling coalition at the expense of focusing on its actual obligations. The insecurity it engenders becomes a fatal distraction from governance as it involves constantly directing its attention and energy to confronting opponents and instituting measures to control them. Much of the narrative emanating from government ministers is more about the opposition’s ‘malign’ conduct, than about public policy or what they are delivering. Government performance suffers from an obsessive concern with seeking to upend and defeat opponents.
The political impact of a siege mentality has been no less deleterious. It has led to efforts to undermine institutions, curb their independence and weaken democracy itself. This has been evidenced by the way the ruling coalition has reduced parliament to a rubber stamp. Fearful of open debate, parliamentary proceedings have seen repeated attempts to muzzle opposition and critical voices. When the Speaker, otherwise acting as a pawn of the ruling party, is compelled to give opposition members an opportunity to speak, television channels are ‘advised’ to ignore or censor their remarks. Consequential legislation has been adopted without discussion — the 26th Constitutional Amendment being the latest case in point. Failure to implement the Supreme Court judgment on allocation of reserved seats to PTI is the most egregious example of the ruling coalition’s insecurity that has left parliament denuded of representative credentials and therefore legitimacy. Consequently, public confidence in parliamentary institutions has sunk to a new low.
A siege mentality regards independent institutions of any kind as a threat and danger. Such insecurity prompted the government to mount an assault on judicial independence. The constitutional amendment rammed through parliament by a panicky government fundamentally eroded the independence of the judiciary by making it subservient to the executive. The constitutional principle of the separation of powers was cast aside by a government afraid of unfavourable court verdicts.
The economic impact on an ailing economy is also significant. Frequent shutdowns and blockades of cities obviously hits businesses hard. Apart from working days lost to such lockdowns, delays in delivery of production material and export items exact a heavy economic price. Then there is the cost to the exchequer of deploying thousands of security forces to police the streets and renting shipping containers to prevent demonstrators from reaching their destination. This is estimated to run into millions of rupees.
The impact of internet disruptions and restrictions has also been far reaching. Again, there are economic costs of such actions for e-commerce and businesses that depend on the internet for their operation. The disruptions pose obvious difficulties for Pakistan’s burgeoning IT industry and sizeable online freelance workforce. This has prompted warnings from industry representatives such as the Pakistan Software Houses Association that the internet slowdown and blocking of VPNs would cripple the digital economy and become an “existential threat” for the IT industry.
An American expert from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation recently warned about the long-term risks to the economy by internet interruptions. These disruptions also block people’s access to financial, health and emergency services.
International perceptions of the country are adversely affected by all of the above. Frequent shutdowns of cities and businesses, internet controls and roads littered with containers convey an image of the country as unstable, insecure and unpredictable. This does nothing to encourage foreign investors; instead, it deters them. With businesses facing many obstacles and having to close down so often the country doesn’t appear to outsiders to be safe enough to do business in. Thus, the reputational damage to the country is immense.
All this should be reason for the government to review its authoritarian conduct and assess the damage its siege mentality is doing to the country. Above all, it should understand that it cannot secure itself in power by weakening institutions, restricting public access to the internet and taking undemocratic actions to curb the freedom of expression and people’s right to protest.
The writer is a former ambassador to the US, UK and UN.
Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024
SPEAKING to an audience in Riyadh earlier this year, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb labelled the undocumented economy Pakistan’s “biggest challenge”. Given his role, and the associated IMF-coloured pressures that come with it, his understanding of the challenge is concerned primarily with the narrow tax base and the lack of taxes collected in the country.
Each Pakistani government over the past three decades has voiced a similar concern, even if it’s been phrased differently. In the past, this problem was sidestepped and bypassed through loans and support from foreign countries. With support less forthcoming and the IMF being a little less forgiving, the tax challenge is proving to be far more consequential.
Efforts to make the tax system fairer, and to make the proverbial big fish in sectors such as agriculture and retail-wholesale trade pay up, are long overdue. At the same time this recent attention towards the undocumented or informal economy provides a chance to develop an improved understanding of how many Pakistanis actually go about eking out a living (and a how a few make a lot).
To paraphrase Castells and Portes’s definition, the informal economy is ‘all income-generating activity that is unregulated in a context where similar activities are regulated’. The first thing apparent from this definition is that much of the informal or undocumented economy is different from the ‘illicit economy’, ie, it does not consist of trade and production of goods and services that are deemed illegal.
The informal economy deserves far more attention in any analysis of Pakistan’s societal functioning and stability.
Most of what gets made and traded in the informal economy is licit, but some part of the process through which it is made and/or traded is not according to existing laws and policies. To give an example, a registered importer bringing in fully taxed consumer goods will be part of the formal economy, while a businessman bringing in the same goods via misdeclaration that involves bribes to custom officials, or smuggling through a land border, will be part of the informal economy.
To give an example from the manufacturing sector, there is no law forbidding the production of soap. But the soap made by a registered factory, paying taxes and meeting environmental, social, and labour regulations, is part of the formal economy; while soap being made in a small unregistered workshop by a proprietor and their own family labour would be considered part of the informal economy.
Broadening our perspective on what the undocumented economy actually is allows several facts to emerge. First, there is a great deal of variation within the informal sector. It includes everything from smuggled tyres and cigarettes that are traded from Karachi to Khyber, to homemade soap sold only within a village or a small community. When we talk about the taxation challenges of the undocumented sector, it is important to be aware of what type of activity is worth going after.
Secondly, informality operates on a spectrum. It is possible that some aspect of any activity may be registered or regulated. A sales tax-evading shop will likely be registered with the local Disco or it may even be filing tax returns but misreporting its actual sales and income. Similarly, a lot of smuggling takes place via trade by registered entities through formal channels like the seaports in Karachi, but laced with misdeclaration and evasion.
Third, and closely related to the previous point, is the integral role of the state in actually sustaining the undocumented economy. Any person who has worked in large wholesale markets in big urban centres, or seen the nature of trade in border districts can tell you that most informal trade happens under observation of, and with approval from, state officials, especially those tasked with border security. Their reasons for allowing it might include personal gain through bribery, but also perhaps a need to maintain social peace and sustain livelihoods necessary in remote localities.
In an op-ed last week, my teacher Aasim Sajjad Akhtar pointed out how militant activity currently wreaking havoc in two provinces is at least partly sustained by smuggling along borders otherwise manned by the state. Seen in this vein, some part of the undocumented economy challenge speaks not just to the basic arithmetic of government budgets, but of the very ability of the state to enforce rules on its own personnel, maintain territorial sovereignty, and ensure peace.
Fourth, and perhaps most crucially, the informal economy deserves far more attention in any analysis of Pakistan’s societal functioning and stability. It is frequently speculated, with good reason, that pervasive undocumented economic activity may be the safety net that sustains livelihoods for millions of households in an otherwise faltering economy.
When people wonder why the crushing inflation of the past three years didn’t bring people out on the streets in spontaneous rage, part of the answer could be that the undocumented economy — small-scale trading, petty production, charitable acts, and even gift-giving among families and kin groups — is what allows basic subsistence and consumption to continue.
This is not to suggest that somehow Pakistan enjoys widespread off-the-books prosperity. Such wealth is probably only true for a small number who are accumulating large profits by undocumented means. But rather when government decision-makers talk about the challenges of the undocumented economy, two things should be kept in mind: the state is intimately involved in perpetuating informality and sustaining undocumented wealth accumulation. Therefore, the challenge of the undocumented economy is actually a challenge for the state to fix itself.
And secondly, the undocumented economy comprises immense internal diversity and sustains households who are otherwise ignored and excluded by the formal sector. Steps for documentation need to be thought through carefully to guard against harmful consequences for those who have no other option.
The writer teaches sociology at Lums.
X: @umairjav
Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024
I ENVY my parents for living in Karachi when they did. My father, like others who lived here between the 1950s to Gen Zia’s accession, describes a city that sounds alien. He narrates stories about how he would go to Café George (for the patties) after work or take my mother to watch a movie; he remembers watching Cleopatra in 1966. Weekends were spent listening to one of the many live bands, both local and visiting acts from abroad, or at various nightclubs.
My friend Mohsin’s earliest memories are hearing his daada tell his mother to get the kids ready, after which he’d take all the children all over the city, on trams — like an adventure. Mohsin also remembers visiting famed tea cafés which were intellectual hubs in Karachi, as a kid with his professor father. I credit Mohsin’s endless curiosity to the exposure he got here.
This Karachi was open for everyone; sometimes you needed to pay to get into clubs but it remained egalitarian in its attitude. Now, people with money work hard to keep others out. Signs of ‘right to admissions reserved’ represent the rot in society.
The beach, parks or spaces like Frere Hall are some spots where the rich and poor cross paths, though I have witnessed efforts to keep poor families out of parks in DHA. We have seen how real estate is trying to gobble up beach land to create exclusive residences.
How can we expect a city to restore its past when it can’t manage its present?
When we gate ourselves into smaller spaces in the name of safety — I still don’t understand what we are in danger of — we lose a sense of a wider community which brings with it a sense of belonging, one that you can’t get in silos or screens. The mohalla of your elders —which once raised children along with parents and extended family — no longer exists. We don’t know our neighbours anymore.
Where can we go to meet each other in the open, except gated parks or arts and literary events, which only occur once a year?
After visiting several of the sites of Karachi Biennale a fortnight ago, and enjoying several interactions with folks from all over the city, I sought out similar experiences. I miss The Second Floor, which Sabeen Mahmud opened in 2007, because it provided a space for us to get together. I enjoyed visiting Pakistan Chowk Community Centre in 2018 when I took my students on a heritage walking tour through the Old Town neighborhood. I’ve taken a few friends on this walk which I recommend to get a glimpse of what our city was, and is, like.
Thankfully, last Sunday I went to the renovated Khaliqdina Hall on M.A. Jinnah Road to check out the exhibit ‘Crafting Resistance’ which showcased artisans’ work. Here visitors could try their hand at spinning cloth grown from flax, using several blocks to block print, or weave yarn on a portable loom under the advice of the artists. There were other art opportunities for children and adults. Entry is free, even for the qawwali scheduled this evening.
I met three people I hadn’t seen in years and would have met more, like the curator of this initiative, if I had stayed longer. I liked being in the space, whose interior was restored though a collaboration between Numaish Collective and the Karachi Metropolitan Council — in three months, proving that if you have the will, funds and fortitude, anything is possible. I want to mention the brass lighting because one of the civil engineers of this project, Shakeel uz Zaman, discovered during the restoration that the lights were brass and had them restored. I mention this small detail to demonstrate that restoration need not be an extravagant affair. And that restoration purely for the sake of it is pointless if you aren’t going to use the building. I appreciate Khaliqdina Hall and library are being used for the purpose its founder, Ghulam Husain Khaliqdina, intended: a space for literary and recreational pursuits. Incidentally the architect of this 1906 building was the Iraqi-Jewish man from Lahore, Moses Somake.
This was Karachi’s diversity. It is not one that is difficult to reclaim. Alas, how do you expect a city to restore its past when it can’t seem to manage its crumbling present? It will have to find a way.
Instead of demolishing old buildings to create new ones, either under the guise of cost-effectiveness or to show modernity, I join a chorus of voices — far more knowledgeable than I — beseeching the authorities to restore our buildings, return our city to a semblance of its past. The Numaish Collective has shown us the way.
Look at the Walled City project of Lahore which has done a remarkable job at conserving the city’s heritage and helping people connect with it, feel pride in it. Surely Karachiites deserve the same.
The writer is a journalism instructor.
X: @LedeingLady
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024
OH beloved Lahore! It saddens me to see you wither away, dying a slow death day by day.
CITIES are an integral part of history and one of the most complex creations of mankind. The architecture of a city is the main tangible evidence of man’s intellectual and cultural journey through the past — and Lahore, indeed, is a city where history, art and culture have been woven seamlessly into the lives of its people. Unfortunately, the Lahore we know today seems to be stifled by an unrelenting haze of pollution, neglect, and indifference.
The city gasps for breath, choked by a thick blanket of smog that descends every winter, suffocating its citizens. Pollution is no longer just an inconvenience; it is a health emergency, a manmade catastrophe, fuelled by political apathy, regulatory failure, and unchecked urbanisation.
Imposing illogical bans on people’s livelihoods is hardly a solution (in case anyone important enough to take action has stumbled upon this piece). The issue goes far beyond the present crisis. It dates to years of neglect — when activities endangering the environment should have been monitored, when the looming ‘environmental crisis’ should have been treated with urgency, and when there was still time to reverse the damage caused by the misdoings and sheer failures of those in charge.
Instead, here we are, tangled in the noise of daily politics, fixated on power struggles, prejudiced rivalries, and judicial controversies, while the people of Lahore are left to suffer and quite literally, suffocate.
Lahore gasps for breath, choked by a thick blanket of smog.
It’s truly baffling that individuals occupying high-ranking positions — armed with degrees from prestigious universities and boasting decades of supposed experience — believe they are entitled to those seats, no matter how they were secured: through manipulation, deception, or outright disregard for the public. And yet, despite their credentials and claims of competence, the issues of environmental security are dismissed as unworthy of attention. As disappointing as it is, the mindset, cultural blind spots, and self-serving incompetence of the country’s policymakers leave them incapable of understanding the severity of the crisis. But of course, priorities are clear — why focus on the suffocating air millions are forced to breathe when a quick trip to the UK for a throat infection is much more pressing? Meanwhile, the rest of us? Well, we can continue to suffer.
It comes as no surprise to anyone paying attention that environmental degradation has long been the price of so-called development in Pakistan. Successive governments have mastered the art of crafting policies full of promises and impressive jargon, yet the gap between these declarations and implementation is staggering. Take, for instance, the National Environmental Policy 2005, seen as a comprehensive blueprint to tackle environmental challenges at the time. It now gathers dust, undermined by a lack of enforcement and funding, and an even greater lack of political will.
Meanwhile, malpractice continues to thrive in the agriculture, food and water sectors, continuing to expose people to toxic chemicals and creating health crises that remain unaddressed. Like I said, if one is to examine the country’s environmental and climate change efforts diligently, a disheartening pattern emerges: policies churned out over the years like clockwork, each signalled as a breakthrough, but backed by little practical action. We seem stuck in an endless cycle of announcements and photo ops, while the air we continue to breathe, grows increasingly poisonous, and is unfit for life.
Where does the blame lie? It’s tempting to point fingers in every possible direction — inept policymakers, uninterested administrations, and industries run-
ning wild — but the vacuum of accountability looms largest. In this void, the judiciary often steps in, attempting to address environmental crises through public interest litigation. But let’s be honest — judicial intervention is a stopgap, not a long-term solution, which is what is required from the government. The judiciary can issue directives and develop laws, but without political will to enforce them, they are little more than mere words on paper. And as the air continues to thicken with smog and indifference, we’re only left to wonder: is it too much to hope for leaders who prioritise lives over optics? Or perhaps this is the reality we must accept: in the grant hierarchy of priorities, the survival of a city and its people will always come second to the persistent pursuit of power.
For now, the sun is out and I’d like to soak it all in — who knows, when we’ll get to see it again. My humble advice: do the same while you still can, and demand that those responsible for this crisis finally take action before it’s too late.
The writer is a lawyer based in Lahore.
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024
PAKISTAN’S Constitution allows only one avenue to challenge the outcome of an election to the national parliament or a provincial assembly and that is through an election petition to be decided by an election tribunal appointed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Article 225 is quite emphatic in this regard and states: “No election to a House or Provincial Assembly shall be called in question except by an election petition presented to such tribunal and in such manner as may be determined by Act of Parliament.”
It means that the system of election dispute resolution relies exclusively on the election tribunals for a timely outcome of poll petitions. It also means that if the tribunals fail in their duty of timely adjudication, the entire edifice of providing justice to poll contestants, who feel they have been wrongly declared as defeated, crumbles, leading to frustration, street agitation, the further choking of the judicial system, and loss of public faith in the poll-related justice system — all serious consequences for Pakistan’s democracy and peace.
Section 148(5) of the Elections Act, 2017, allows a maximum of 180 days to the tribunals to decide each petition, from the date of its filing. Earlier, the tribunals were allowed a maximum of 120 days but this period was increased through the Elections (Second Amendment) Act in August 2023. The timely disposal of poll petitions was the main objective of creating a system of dedicated election tribunals to deal with poll petitions, otherwise the law could have directed the petitioners to directly approach the high courts as is the system in India.
Pakistan has experimented with the tribunals comprising sitting judges of the high courts only and tribunals headed by retired judges. The Elections Act, 2017, provided for sitting high court judges only to act as election tribunals but an amendment via a presidential ordinance in May 2024, opened the possibility of appointments of retired judges too as election tribunals. Despite having a system of dedicated tribunals, inducting sitting or retired judges as tribunals and fixing a deadline of 120 and later 180 days to decide election petitions, the deadlines have hardly been respected and many petitions linger even till the time the legislatures are dissolved for the next election, thus failing the very purpose for which the elaborate architecture of electoral disputes resolution system was put in place.
The element of fear from ‘the long arm of justice’ has almost disappeared.
The number of election tribunals had also been fluctuating between 31 in 2008 to 14 in 2013 over the past elections. The average case load of the tribunals had been varying from as low as nine petitions per tribunal constituted after the 2008 election to as high as 28 petitions after the 2013 general poll. Each tribunal has a well-defined geographical area of jurisdiction.
The ECP had notified 15 election tribunals in February 2024 soon after the general election as per the norm. Surprisingly, while four tribunals were notified for Sindh, five for KP, three for Balochistan and one for Islamabad Capital Territory, conforming more or less to past practice, only two tribunals were notified for Punjab — way below the size of the province, the expected load of petitions and past number of tribunals.
It is reported that the ECP had requested the Lahore High Court chief justice of the time to appoint nine tribunals for Punjab but he did not oblige. Thus began a long-drawn legal battle between the ECP and LHC, which first led to an amendment in the Elections Act to provide for tribunals comprising retired judges and later litigation over which of the two institutions had the power to finally appoint the tribunals.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court decided the case in favour of the ECP in September this year and eight election tribunals for Punjab were notified on Oct 3, 2024, delaying the entire process of deciding election petitions by almost seven months. This serious setback raises a number of questions about the way our top institutions operate and the inefficiency that pervades our justice system.
While the allotted time of six months to decide election petitions by all tribunals except in Punjab is already over, only 60, or 17pc, of the petitions could be decided by Nov 15, as reported in a recent Fafen report. Even if we exclude the election petitions of Punjab, the efficiency of the remaining 15 tribunals is not enviable as they could decide only 50 of the 179, or merely 28pc, petitions during the time available to them according to the law.
Given the fact that the Supreme Court has been allowed an additional six months to decide the appeals to be filed to challenge the tribunal judgments, a significant part of the assemblies’ term would be over by the time a final verdict is delivered. Most experienced election candidates, therefore, rightly conclude that no matter what means are employed to win the election, the result is not going to change in the legal process following the declaration of the result. Therefore, the element of fear from ‘the long arm of justice’ has almost disappeared making most of the electoral contests a free-for-all.
There is need for introspection and accountability to address this grave situation. One may disagree with many aspects of the 26th Amendment recently passed by parliament but the provision for annual performance evaluation of the judges of the high courts seems justified. It is not clear what criteria or key performance indicators will be decided by the Judicial Commission for such an exercise, but it will be appropriate to include efficiency in deciding election petitions as one of them to judge the performance of the honourable high court judges.
The writer is president of the Pakistan-based think tank Pildat.
president@pildat.org
X: @ABMPildat
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024
AGAINST the backdrop of a significant upsurge in violent incidents in KP and Balochistan, which left around 100 people dead in just over a week, what appeared more important to large sections of the media was the statement of the spouse of a jailed popular political leader.
Editorial priorities of large swathes of the electronic media in particular seem to be decided not in the newsrooms but elsewhere and their news running orders reflect the mindset of those pulling the strings and WhatsApping TV ‘tickers’ to news executives that we see running on our screens verbatim.
News bulletins and tickers taken care of, the attention turns to friendly anchors, YouTubers and analysts whose primary task seems to be to echo the view and thinking of the security state, despite the inconvenient and often bloody truth slapping everyone in the face.
So, in a video message, when Bushra Bibi (and no, her words weren’t twisted, in this case at least, as some top PTI leaders have suggested) implied clearly that the Saudis were also instrumental in the removal of the PTI government in 2022, one could have taken her statement in a number of ways.
In recent years, Imran Khan has repeatedly said she is a ‘non-political’ personality who has nothing to do with politics. Taken at face value, her statement seemed to lend weight to that view. When she plucked out that particular accusation out of nowhere and went public with it, had she been a politician she would have been well aware of the consequences.
One must draw attention to perils old and new facing the country, and the rulers’ response to them.
But if she was merely being a desperate spouse who wants her husband’s more than year-long incarceration to end, then the only thing that would have mattered to her, in her view, would be to build and sustain pressure to secure his freedom. That it would achieve the opposite, ie, be counterproductive could only have occurred to a seasoned politician.
Despite the unease of several unnamed PTI leaders and their view that her statement had undermined, rather than provided an impetus to, the campaign to gather sufficient numbers of supporters in the streets of Punjab and KP so that those at the helm would be forced to take notice, it wasn’t immediately clear if her statement had impacted the plan at all.
If the protest is not postponed or cancelled, then Sunday (today) perhaps will make apparent whether her words were tantamount to a PTI own goal, as analysts, some among them apparently compromised, are suggesting or whether it had no such impact. You and I will have a fair idea by the time you read these lines.
Anyway, the purpose of this column was not to spend so much time on one statement and its coverage, but to draw attention to perils old and new facing the country, and the rulers’ response — which seems to leave a lot to be desired — to them.
Both Balochistan and KP have seen a rather alarming spike in violence that tragically seems to have made a home in the two provinces because of our policy failures and the incitement of our regional/ global adversaries.
Whether it is the ‘sectarian’ strife in Kurram or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s terror strikes on our security forces over swathes of the former tribal areas in KP or similar violence perpetrated by Baloch separatists in Balochistan from Quetta to the inner most recesses and the coastal belt of the province, which has drawn the blood of our brave soldiers, paramilitaries and civilians in their dozens, the main response is in words and not policy steps.
From the country’s chief executive to his backers to the smallest minion, we have been hearing — from the start — of the resolve to deal with the violence with an ‘iron hand’ and with other tools at the state’s disposal.
I wonder when this hand will come out of the foundry perfectly forged in order to deliver the deathly blow to those who kill our innocent civilians and soldiers alike. Side by side, we also wait for economic and political measures to tackle some of the causes that fuel this insane violence. Given the criticality of the state of play, one hopes this is soon.
But what does impede and dampen hope is the continued arrogance of the policymakers. This arrogance now threatens peace in Sindh too. It can’t be stressed enough that the federal government had no business approving Rs260 billion to construct canals from the Indus to irrigate large tracts of barren land in southern Punjab, the Cholistan desert included, where some five million acres of land have been allotted for ‘corporate farming’.
It is common knowledge who is driving this move but what is not clear at all is if anyone has thought through its consequences. Sindh is facing severe water shortages and being the lower riparian, its concerns should be addressed on a priority basis.
There just isn’t sufficient water in the Indus river system as is evident from the flows downstream of the Kotri barrage; even a visitor to the area can see the dry, sandy riverbed where once the mighty Indus flowed. The situation further downstream is even worse as the meagre flows mean the sea is pushing into the river and wreaking havoc on the area’s ecology.
The PPP has been rightly accused of dancing to the establishment’s tune but like it or hate it, it has so far stood between the nationalists and the state. If there is any attempt to ride roughshod over this issue, the buffer the PPP has provided will be wrenched away and a serious security crisis could envelop Sindh as well.
The writer is a former editor of Dawn.
abbas.nasir@hotmail.com
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024
THE commissioner Quetta, who is also the administrator of the Quetta Municipal Corporation (QMC), lately announced that several municipal properties will be privatised to raise revenue. The provincial government and the Balochistan Public-Private Partnership Authority were also taken on board. However, it must be noted that key decisions related to Quetta’s municipal issues must only be taken when an elected municipality is at the helm of affairs. Appointed administrators simply represent a stop-gap arrangement.
Some of the properties mentioned above are currently rented by powerful traders for nominal sums. They wish to neither vacate the premises nor increase the amount. Such immovable properties are an already under-resourced QMC’s family silver. At the same time, one can question the district and divisional administration’s inability to have the premises vacated after due process of the law. The QMC can be supported to make better utilisation of these assets. Parting from them will make the QMC a basket case for the provincial government.
Balochistan is entitled to 9.09 per cent of the funds from the Federal Divisible Pool, which translates to Rs894 billion. This share is an outcome of the 18th Amendment. However, the actual spirit of this amendment was the distribution of resources to the lowest level of the administrative units. Whereas the politicians want increasing financial shares for their provinces from the pool, no effort is made to constitute the mandatory provincial financial commissions to ensure the smooth transfer of funds to the districts and tehsils. The entire financial control now vests with the provincial government. Municipalities such as the QMC and other local councils depend on the provincial government for financial resources, which compromises their autonomy.
As elected local councils do not exist in Balochistan now, the provincially appointed officers continue to call the shots in municipalities, without factoring in local needs and demands. Most development projects in the city are undertaken through the province’s Annual Development Programme. Stakeholders say that the choice of project is not linked to the development needs of the city and its residents. For instance, the city faces an acute shortage of water due to over-extraction from groundwater aquifers. But there has been no worthwhile effort to capture rainwater through groundwater recharge initiatives.
Quetta’s natural land assets must be protected.
Another challenge is the poor availability of decent public transport. Thousands of people commute in rickety vans, tri-wheelers and improvised pick-up trucks from nearby areas to Quetta. Informal operators continue to dominate the passenger transport scene, where the level of service, fares and comfort parameters are all determined by transporters. Womenfolk, the elderly, people with special needs and schoolchildren find it especially difficult to move around. There is an urgent need to upgrade options through intelligent route planning, gender-friendly transport and easier access for disadvantaged groups. Local institutions, especially the QMC, have a responsibility to properly maintain road spaces. If municipal bodies and provincial departments agree to coordinate, there can be quick progress.
To conserve the air quality, public transport must be encouraged and private vehicles using substandard fuel should not be allowed on the roads. Quetta’s topography does not permit for enhanced emissions, which create health hazards. Natural land assets within municipal and regional limits must be carefully documented and protected.
The Balochistan government is at present in the process of finalising the Quetta Master Plan 2050. The planning process is based on the appraisal of the current urban and regional situation, the formulation of goals, immediate action proposals, and medium- and long-term recommendations. It attempts to obtain feedback from stakeholders in the public and private sector, as well as representatives from various strata of society.
It is a desirable move. To make it happen, institutional rearrangements, along with new measures, are being suggested to build the capacity of existing city institutions. The plan will only be meaningful if provided legal cover.
It is hoped that the Balochistan government takes the necessary steps to shore up the capacity of the QMC, the Quetta Development Authority, the Balochistan Water and Sanitation Department, and other outfits.
Located in a zone of high seismic activity, Quetta needs a strict building and zoning control regime to enable safe construction practices. Older buildings and structures also require assessment and retrofitting to enable them to survive disasters of various kinds. Quetta must be planned and managed well to live up to the hopes invested in it.
The writer is an academic and researcher based in Karachi.
Published in Dawn, November 23th, 2024
WITH the rise in insecurity, we have seen the increasing use of CCTV surveillance cameras and metal detectors in educational institutions globally. The security threats include, for example, school shootings in the US and attacks on schools in Pakistan. The use of surveillance technologies like CCTV may appear appropriate to combat insecurity faced by educational institutions, their staff, and students.
Although the initial deployment of CCTV cameras in many countries aimed to protect schools against dangerous outsiders, they soon extended across school playgrounds, hallways, classrooms, and libraries and even crept into more private spaces like staffrooms and locker rooms. Video scandals involving university students in parts of Pakistan and other societies have highlighted the abuse of such surveillance and have initiated a debate about its use in personalised areas and classrooms.
Educational institutions justify the use of CCTV surveillance cameras for access and conduct control, and evidence gathering. Access control is primarily associated with the protection of schools from dangerous outsiders. Conduct control is focused on making interventions to normalise school rules, such as attendance, assessment reports, uniforms, and punishments based on real-time monitoring. Evidence gathering is an effort to ease disciplinary investigation.
CCTV surveillance cameras have become the new administrative norm. They have proliferated to socially control a variety of student behaviours, including theft, bullying, truancy, smoking, and minor delinquencies, as well as to evaluate teachers’ performance and behaviour in the classroom.
The use of CCTVs in classrooms must especially be discouraged.
In classrooms, they perform mostly as disciplinary tools to control teachers and students, maintain discipline, and ensure utmost compliance with organisational regulations. They are also used to supervise, monitor, and judge students’ and teachers’ overall performance.
These technological surveillance services are cost-effective for educational institutes. However, they come at the cost of neglecting the development of students and impeding their transition to becoming responsible citizens, and confident, self-directed learners.
Such surveillance in classrooms and personalised places has adversely impacted students and staff, and have contributed to a negative psychology on their part and a feeling of reduced safety in schools and in the classroom in particular. In addition to harsh disciplinary practices, such surveillance has resulted in a strained relationship between schools, teachers, and students.
Recent educational research indicates that increasing implementation of very visible security measures — akin to a prison system — in educational institutions may gradually diminish mutual trust and have a detrimental effect on the learning environment, academic performances, and the social development of students. Research has also demonstrated that this hyper-surveillance has led to an increase in students’ feelings of mistrust, powerlessness, and vulnerability.
Students are more afraid of being observed, and they may consequently act in a way that is contrived because of the ‘observer effect’ that comes with CCTV cameras. Similarly, teachers will become demoralised at such an invasion of their personal and professional space and make attempts to counteract the surveillance through resistance.
Learning takes place in an environment of trust and healthy relationships between teachers and students and in a learner-friendly environment. CCTVs hamper the development of an anxiety-free environment when ins-
talled in classrooms and personal spaces. Their presence heightens alertness, camouflages genuine behaviour, and may even lead to the display of fake conduct.
There is evidence that they are used to criminalise student behaviour, transforming the learning atmosphere into a hyper-surveilled one, resulting in risks to privacy and human rights, as well as to the health and academic performance of students. In fact, intensified surveillance in schools has led to a growing mistrust among and oppression of students.
One is not proposing to entirely avoid the use of CCTV surveillance, but it must not hinder the learning process, and personal growth of the learners or deplete trust in students and teachers, or generate a sense of personal insecurity. Their use in classrooms must especially be discouraged, and they should only be installed in places such as hallways and entrances. There should be proper rules and regulations for CCTV surveillance in educational institutes, which must be complied with. The consent of staff, students, and their parents must be obtained, and the school management must explain to them the purpose of CCTVs.
The writer is an educationist.
Published in Dawn, November 23th, 2024
AS we take a moment to observe how the world has changed in the past few years, it always helps to think of what our younger selves may have thought or felt when faced with similar events.
It’s one way to figure out how jaded or cynical we may have become over the years. And it helps in appreciating and understanding the concerns and worldviews of young people around us.
The Global Trends study that is carried out by Ipsos every decade, aims to capture how people across the globe view their lives and futures and reveals shared realities but also divergences. Research is conducted across 50 countries and 1,000 individuals in each, equal representation of gender and an age cohort stretching from 19 to 74. It is a robust dataset, but given that it is an online survey, it acknowledges that respondents are more educated, largely urban and probably better off than many of their fellow citizens.
In 2024, the macro trends identified by the study don’t hold any surprises. However, they do reveal how people are observing and reflecting on critical issues of our time. One of the trends is economic disparities, and data reveals that people realise they are in the midst of the downfall of the middle classes. What was once a clear trajectory for a majority (that children should and will prosper more than their parents), is now perceived to be out of reach. The divide between the haves and have nots has been exposed for what it signifies — those in positions of power do not want the status quo to change.
The economic trend also points to a fracturing of societies and impacts politics and social structures. Tensions around immigrants and refugees, the role of digital technology, populism and polarity of views all suggest that we are in the midst of massive transformations. Where the collisions occur can already be partially predicted, but what it means for us as human beings and nation states, is as yet unknown.
Another shift reveals how people’s thinking has changed on a particular issue. A decade earlier, people were worried about climate change, today according to the study, 80 per cent of respondents realise we are in the midst of an environmental emergency. Most also believe that our habits need to change quickly if we are to survive, and they hold companies and governments responsible for lack of action and initiative on environmental stewardship, and building a more sustainable future for all. However, individuals see themselves as doing as much as they can in this regard, and this is where the issue of environmental emergency becomes submerged to the immediate reality of rising costs of living, and disparities in wealth and health.
Our most prominent differences with the world are linked to personal and societal values.
Over 70pc of people believe that technology can be used to solve the problems we face. There is awe and wonder at what can be achieved, but more than half also believe that technology is destroying the very fabric of our lives. Fears about how the meta data that is collected invades our privacy, is taking our jobs and whether humans themselves will be able to control artificial intelligence in the future, are growing.
The use of digital technology to control our autonomy and independence, while our own expanding dependence on smartphones and the like reflect the innately complex and intricate nature of our relationship with technology and whether this will in the long-term be to our advantage or disadvantage.
Where does Pakistan stand across all these parameters of perception? Interestingly there are some similarities but also differences. We stand with the rest of the world when it comes to a distrust in elites and 72pc of us agree that the economy is rigged to the advantage of the rich and powerful. Ninety-one per cent of Pakistanis believe that we are heading for environmental disaster if we don’t change our ways. A significant majority — 89pc — also believe that modern technology provides the answer to the big challenges we face.
Our most prominent differences with the world are linked to personal and societal values. Eighty-two per cent of us still believe that the main role of women is to be good mothers and wives and this is linked to our traditionalist view on religion. Only 39pc of the rest of the world adheres to this view. I have become more aware over time of how deeply patriarchal and misogynistic our society has become, so while I should be surprised at this figure, I’m not. Just weary of the struggle that seems to go nowhere.
What did alarm me was that while saying our faith is very important to us, we also differ to the rest of the world on our opinion of material ownership. Seventy-nine per cent of Pakistanis compared to 46pc globally agree to the statement - I measure success by the things that I own. This juxtaposition of focus on wealth and possessions, yet convincing ourselves that we have strong faith, reflects a confusion, an internal dissonance in our value systems. This is troubling.
I titled this piece ‘Deep Fakes’ for a reason. Our society is at a crossroads. We have a young population that we are failing. Politicians talk of Pakistan becoming great, but have betrayed us with falsehoods and false hope for far too long. They take the easy way out, as do most of us elites. And the examples we set for the rest of the country means they will do the same. This divergence between rhetoric and practice is our downfall. And it is reflected in the dissonance of values within our collective psyche. Is it possible to crawl out of this hole? The answer lies in intention.
The writer is an independent development professional and impact adviser with over 25 years of experience in designing and managing programmes to improve lives.
samialakhan21@gmail.com
Published in Dawn, November 23th, 2024
THERE is growing concern regarding the shockingly higher-than-anticipated intercensal population growth rates of 2.55 per cent between 2017 and 2023.
An already high, unsustainable population growth rate has increased instead of going down. We have added 110 million people to our population in 25 years and boast the highest growth rate in South Asia.
The Population Council and UNFPA’s report Pakistan@2050 addresses demographic change, future projections, and the consequent challenges and opportunities vis-à-vis Pakistan’s development landscape. It leaves no doubt how important it is to tackle the existential crisis of population growth.
The study puts to rest much of the debate about a demographic dividend in Pakistan: a dividend is unlikely if each additional person consumes more than what is earned. It also underscores the flat trends in labour productivity which have cancelled out the expectation that the increase in labour force would yield dividends.
The cost of inaction in achieving a fertility transition and a reduction in population growth rate since the 1980s is high. The study lays out the huge loss caused by high population growth in the last few decades in economic terms. Pakistan’s GDP would have been 56pc higher if the population growth had been even half a percentage point lower since the 1980s. Poverty levels and maternal deaths — other important indicators — could have been severely reduced.
Of even greater concern is that we are on track to reach a population of 385m Pakistanis by 2050. Already stretched resources, water and food shortages and, above all, high unemployment and a troubled economy do not point to a rosy future for an additional 140m in Pakistan. There are also concerns regarding the lack of education, skills and knowledge base. This puts our labour force at a disadvantage in today’s fiercely competitive markets.
The report calculates that 2.6m additional jobs are required annually between 2023 and 2050. At the moment, it is mainly the services sector which has largely absorbed the surge of additional workforce. We face challenges in absorbing the full workforce and will need to plan for it. Major structural changes are required to generate growth in manufacturing and agriculture to absorb the additional 65m Pakistanis who will enter the labour force in the next 25 years.
The cost of inaction in achieving a fertility transition and a reduction in population growth rate since the 1980s is high.
We can safely expect over 50pc of Pakistanis to be living in urban areas by 2050. The large volume of rural-to-urban migration is due more to the push of shrinking employment opportunities in agriculture and poverty, and less to the pull of better prospects in the urban areas. The lack of structural changes that accompany urban transitions elsewhere are of concern. This includes the lack of any sharp decline in the continuing high rates of fertility in cities and towns.
There is a message of hope though — if the leadership prioritises two clear policy directions. The two policy actions can effectively make a change in the number of Pakistanis, and how educated and how economically sound they will be by 2050. These actions offer a way to redress some factors that impede development. Both are already accepted policies of the government. But there is evidence that immediate implementation can make a significant difference.
The strongest message is that bringing fertility down is a necessity. The goal of the Council of Common Interests is to bring fertility down to 2.2 replacement levels by 2030. This is unlikely, but not impossible. Many countries in this region like Iran and Nepal, and Bangladesh have accomplished a decline in fertility of over one child in a decade.
There is strong reason to believe that Pakistan can experience a fast fertility decline. A recent Population Council report estimates that almost half of the pregnancies in Pakistan are unplanned and 3.8m end annually as abortions and 2m as unplanned births. This confirms that there is a huge gap between demand for and supply of family planning services for families in need of these.
The second necessary policy is the implementation of compulsory primary education for all children by 2028. This is obligatory as mandated by Article 25A of the Constitution. Furthermore, the government has declared an education emergency. It is necessary also to rectify the shameful figure of 25m out-of-school children.
Immediate joint efforts by the centre and provinces should ensure that measures are put in place through expanding the school network, hiring more teachers and doing double shifts to meet this emergency. A full generation of Pakistani children in school completing primary education would signal the intent to walk the talk of an educational emergency.
These two actions alone will lead to 50m fewer Pakistanis and doubling of the per capita income by 2050. We will be able to claim a full generation of children having completed primary education and a generation of educated mothers in another few years.
Both these actions are based on the human rights agenda. Additionally, they will provide the tailwind to catch up with key SDG goals on health, hunger and poverty, education and climate change by 2030. The report stresses that gender inequities, particularly involving women and girls, deserve special attention. Their education and labour force participation is essential for any social or economic transformation.
Evidence is given that Pakistan’s demographic and development trajectory today would have been totally different had there been investment in female education. It would certainly have ensured that some key development outcomes and even our fertility levels would have been more in line with our neighbouring countries in South Asia.
The finance minister recently declared that a charter of economy must include population growth and environment. It is an ideal opportunity to prioritise the goals related to these and reverse the demographic crisis. It could be achieved by running a vigorous campaign to increase access to voluntary family planning. Pakistan’s birth rate can be brought down to sustainable levels.
The writer is Country Director, Population Council.
Published in Dawn, November 23th, 2024
IQBAL’S philosophy could be an elixir for creating and sustaining global peace. The ongoing genocide of Palestinians by Israel and its allies is a heinous crime against humanity that has been stoking the boiling cauldron of conflicts in the Middle East, which would embroil the entire world and cause World War III. If WWIII occurs, it would be a nuclear war.
In Why Social Justice Matters (2005), political philosopher Brian Barry predicted that life on earth would be almost wiped out by 2100 either by nuclear holocaust or ecological decay. Is this just a prediction or a stark reality humanity faces? Certainly, under the dark clouds of violence, war, or terrorism across the world, a clear threat of nuclear holocaust hangs over us.
Some argue that Iqbal is a radical philosopher who supports warfare. This argument is wrong because Iqbal’s philosophy liberates humanity from exploitation, humiliation, colonialism, and imperialism through positive human action. Iqbal’s ideal individual is creative, dynamic, empirically informed, and a creator of a just and peaceful world.
In a new year message, ‘Brotherhood of Man’, broadcast from All India Radio, Lahore, on Jan 1, 1938, Iqbal not only described the sociopolitical conditions of the world at the time but also presented a manifesto for global peace. With this manifesto, Iqbal can be placed among the first-rank peace theorists of the 20th century, including Albert Schweitzer, Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Eqbal Ahmad, and Nelson Mandela.
In ‘Brotherhood of Man’, Iqbal’s argument states that on the one hand, human beings have made remarkable progress in science and technology, which created a new world. On the other hand, the world is so miserable that “It is as if the day of doom had come upon the earth, in which each looks after the safety of his own skin.” After over eight decades, there has been no moral progress.
Iqbal’s ideal individual wants a just and peaceful world.
Historically, just before the start of WWII, Iqbal asked a crucial question: is this going to be the end of all progress and evolution of human civilisation? Indubitably, WWII devastated humanity by killing millions through conventional and nuclear arsenals.
Iqbal fosters the creation and sustainability of positive peace. Negative peace refers to the absence of war, while positive peace refers to the presence of life-promoting values and activities. Only positive peace is sustainable. Iqbal writes: “Remember, man can be maintained on this earth only by honouring mankind, and this world will remain a battleground of ferocious beasts of prey unless and until the educational forces of the whole world are directed to inculcating in man respect for mankind.”
According to Iqbal, ‘honouring mankind’ is necessary for creating peace. He also believes that global peace is impossible unless educational institutions impart the ethics of ‘honouring/ respect for humankind’, which I prefer to term ‘reverence for humanity’. Thus, all states must educate their people about the ethics of reverence for humanity for peaceful global coexistence.
Highlighting the central ideals of Islam — equality, freedom, and solidarity — Iqbal accentuates the significance of brotherhood. He articulates: “Only one unity is dependable, and that unity is the brotherhood of man, which is above race, nationality, colour or language.”
Indeed, the idea of the brotherhood of human beings provides a foundation for human unity, which eventually causes peaceful coexistence in the world. Iqbal envisages that false ideologies are enemies of global peace. He argues that until and unless the sha-
ckles of so-called democracy, accursed nationalism, and degraded imperialism are destroyed, there is no possibility of the good life in which the ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity are realised.
Iqbal correctly argues that an ideology cannot promote peace if it causes humiliation, exploitation, or exclusion. Only that ideology can succeed that expresses reverence for humanity, transcending religion, culture, colour, or language because the whole world is the ‘family’ of God: all human beings are God’s creatures.
To create eternal peace on earth, global leaders must stop the crimes against humanity, particularly in Palestine and held Kashmir, before WWIII breaks out and makes Brian Barry’s prediction about the extinction of life come true. Political leaders must have the moral and intellectual vision to promote the values of unity rather than division, cooperation rather than conflict, dialogue rather than war, and above all, humanistic education rather than the indoctrination of racism, colour, caste, or creed.
At the end of ‘Brotherhood of Man’, Iqbal offers a prayer: “God Almighty may grant humanity to those who are in places of power and government and teach them to cherish [hu]mankind.”
The writer is an academic.
Published in Dawn, November 22th, 2024
WHILE the PTI-run government in KP continues to depict itself as the last remaining bastion of democracy in the country, pitched against the governments at the centre and other federating units, many parts of the province have once again become killing fields.
Target killers roam free in Bannu, Waziristan and other Pakhtun regions. Attacks against political workers, security personnel and ordinary civilians have become an almost daily affair. Religiously inspired militants sometimes acknowledge responsibility, but there is an eye-catching number of perpetrators in the now familiar category of ‘unknowns’.
Bloodletting in Kurram district reached unprecedented proportions a couple of weeks ago as local property disputes were instrumentalised by militant elements to stoke sectarian tensions at will. And yesterday, a bus of civilians was fired upon near Parachinar resulting in over 30 deaths.
In such cases, neither the chief minister of KP nor the prime and interior minister at the centre provide the general public with any meaningful information let alone chart out a strategy to deal with what, by any account, is a situation spiralling completely out of control.
There are important organic factors in the re-emergence of militants.
All we get are tired condemnations of ‘terrorism’, with none of our civilian political leaders ever saying openly that the resurgence of militancy might have had to do with the state’s previous backing of the Taliban in Kabul.
Neither is anyone willing to antagonise any of Pakistan’s big external patrons, namely the US, Gulf kingdoms and China, all of whom are part of the geopolitical games that underlie both current and previous waves of violence in Pakhtun regions.
There are also important organic factors in the re-emergence of the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups. They are entrenched economic players in border trade, or what is routinely called smuggling. They extort money from transporters and shop owners in many of the Pakhtun tribal districts. I noted above that they take advantage of property disputes, particularly over agricultural land. Finally, these players have also developed big stakes in the extraction of a host of natural resources, including pine nuts, timber, mineral deposits, etc.
Geopolitical wranglings amongst all the big players in this sordid story also revolve around the desire to either exclusively control economic flows, or to at the very least ensure that competitors do not establish monopolies in trade, mining, construction and other sectors.
In Pakistan we are used to hearing that the only thing that matters is national security, but anyone with even cursory knowledge of the current violence in KP understands that this is just a handy catchphrase for a power game that is largely about social control and economic resources.
The contraband trade across the Pak-Afghan and Pak-Iran borders implicates states, militants, and a host of other economic players. Simply decrying ‘smuggling’ and putting up a fence here and there protects the big profiteers while destroying the livelihoods of the large number of small operators reliant on this trade. Political violence is then both cause and consequence of the deliberate reduction of this complex political economy to ‘national security’.
The PML-N and PPP have shown that they will do everything to appease those higher above them in the political food chain, both at home and abroad, so they are not about to bell the cat. But if the anti-establishment posture of the PTI — and the otherwise firebrand KP chief minister — is more than just a façade, we should expect more critical reflection on the epidemic of violence in Pakhtun tribal and other districts. Indeed, the chief minister himself hails from D.I. Khan, which is at the crossroads of so many recent attacks.
The underlying problem is the militarised and imperialised structure of power in this country. The power of the religious right — and militant groups especially — is a direct offshoot of this structure. The somewhat absurd spectacle of one federating unit’s official state apparatus engaging in mass protests against the centre should not distract us from the fact that the prevailing structure of power is floundering badly.
An anti-establishment politics is not about displacing those currently at the helm so that the next player can lurch towards yet another crisis of what is fundamentally an anti-people and anti-nature system.
Such a politics must be based on a programme for lasting peace, centred on economic redistribution, dismantling the establishment-centric political order, and a non-aligned foreign policy that privileges mutual cooperation with our neighbours.
The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.
Published in Dawn, November 22th, 2024
WHETHER schools are open or closed, it is not going to have much of an impact on smog levels across Punjab. The decision about closing schools has more to do with some notion that children will be less exposed to the smog if they stay at home than if they have to go to school and come back in smoggy conditions.
It might work for some children but other issues and some consequences of the policy of closing schools in smog conditions should also be kept in mind. A lot of children live in homes that are not well insulated and/ or that do not have air purifiers. Their exposure to smog is not reduced if they do not come to school. Children do not necessarily stay indoors when they are at home. Approximately 26 million children are out of school in Pakistan; around 13m of these are in Punjab. School closures do nothing for them.
Closing schools and saying that they can continue to educate online does not work for most children. As we witnessed at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, there are learning losses, especially at the K-12 level, which are associated with going online. This is independent of the issue of internet access. But it is also a fact that other than a small minority of high-fee schools, most schools, and children in most schools, do not have the wherewithal to manage online learning. Internet access is not universal; a lot of students do not have the required devices; and many students do not have conditions at home (for instance, a quiet place or their own room) that are conducive to taking online classes. So, online learning in these conditions can be quite iniquitous and might enhance inequality rather than being a leveller. Jasir Shahbaz has written about this recently in another newspaper in detail so I will not talk about it in this piece.
So the closing of schools might have a marginal impact on the health of a proportion of children and some impact on pollution levels, but it will have a significant impact on schooling and schooling outcomes. The impact on pollution levels, even if it is there, cannot be a reason for keeping schools closed for a significant period of time. The cost, in terms of learning loss, is far too high.
The impact of school traffic on pollution in Punjab is a result of the province’s development model.
The effects of school-going traffic on pollution is a direct result of the development model that had been chosen by previous governments in Punjab and that continues to be the dominant model for the authorities when thinking about development even today.
For the last 30 years or so, what have governments in Lahore celebrated as their crowning achievement?
The road infrastructure in Lahore. Governments have celebrated the speed with which roads in Lahore were built, upgraded or widened. They celebrated the number of underpasses that were built in and around Lahore — there must be 20 or more underpasses in Lahore. Each of these underpasses has cost us Rs100m or more. Pictures of underpasses and overpasses were put on social media to say ‘this is not Paris, it is Lahore’.
So, the government chose to widen the roads and encourage more traffic on them and subsidised this exercise at the cost of not investing in health, education or even public transport. When was the last large hospital made in the public sector in Lahore? I do not know of one after Jinnah Hospital, which was built decades ago.
Lahore’s population must have more than doubled since. But we have not had another hospital. Around 13m five-to-16-year-olds remain out of school in Punjab, but we did not invest in education. We made underpasses. The smog of today is one consequence of the development model that we have been following.
For optimal functioning, large cities require public transport. Look at Paris, New York, London, or any other large city. Lahore has a population of more than 13m. If approximately 6m children live in Lahore and the majority of them need to go to school in the morning, with little or no public transport, imagine the amount of fuel that is burnt and the level of pollution that is produced when these children move from home to school and at midday when they move back. No wonder Lahore’s peak traffic hours are when school-time begins and when it ends, rather than when office-time starts and ends for the day. If we had good quality public transport in the city in the form of buses and trains, the problem would not be as big. If we had good public schools in all parts of the city so that parents would not be compelled to choose schools that are at a distance from home, the problem would be even smaller. But we, as a society, and our successive governments, have not invested in public transport or education. So the problem is larger.
All along, our development model has been one that has chosen to benefit the middle and upper classes at the cost of the larger but poor segments of society. Wider roads benefit those who have cars and other forms of transport. It makes the life of pedestrians harder. Lack of investment in public transport hurt the poor more. Lack of investment in the public provision of health and education hurt the poor more. The rich have made their own schools and hospitals in the private sector.
The consequences, in terms of pollution, should not surprise us. What is even sadder is there is not much acknowledgement of this even now. We are not saying we will invest more in public transport and try to restrict private transport. Instead, the government is just trying to incentivise a shift to hybrid and electric vehicles. Again, the development model, by design, remains the same: a policy for the benefit of the rich while the poor disproportionately pay the price.
The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives, and an associate professor of economics at Lums.
Published in Dawn, November 22th, 2024
“The economy is the start and end of everything. You can’t have successful education reform or any other reform if you don’t have a strong economy.” — David Cameron
IN the age of information, economies are dependent on knowledge workers. The more innovative the higher education institutions in a country, the better the economy. Graduates produced without knowing what organisation they would be serving simply means the workforce isn’t market-ready.
This situation would not only create further stress for the graduates due to unemployment but would also burden the economy, ie, no value added. When the number of unemployed graduates rises, the youth will resort to activities that are not healthy for them and not supportive of the economy.
Worth mentioning here are two of our neighbours. The exports of India and Iran are continuously on the rise. The most important reason for this undoubtedly is the education system — what’s taught at university is helping the economy.
Software exports in India in FY2024 touched $205.2 billion; the US was the major destination, with 54pc of total exports reaching there and 31pc went to Europe, where the UK was the major destination. Overall, India’s exports are expected to cross $800bn across the world soon.
At the same time, our other neighbour, Iran, has touched $98.2bn in exports, despite being impacted by the serious economic sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union that prevent the country from reaching its full economic potential. While Indian exports include software products and services, plus other items, Iran is gradually moving from oil-only products to consumer goods and UAVs mostly used in warzones.
When a comparison is made with our neighbours’ export figures, Pakistani and global intellectuals and policymakers should sit up and reflect on the situation. Among the first questions that come to mind is: what are our universities doing and what contribution should they be making to economic growth in Pakistan?
It seems that our universities simply follow the ‘research publication’ area and overlook other extremely important responsibilities, such as best teaching practices, industry collaborations and engagement, and producing confident, knowledgeable students, who have been prepared for a cutting-edge world. International rankings show that Pakistan stands at number 30 out of 245 in the category of countries with the most publications in scientific research. Apparently, it has left behind countries like Singapore and other fast-moving economies. On the face of it, this might appear to be a convincing effort, but where is the reflection of this research work in the economy?
It seems like there is a numbers game when it comes to research publications. University faculties are financially rewarded for the number of publications they put out; it is a quick cash-creating win-win for authors and institutions. Authors get cash and their name is added to the existing list of publications, which the university in question reports to global ranking agencies for enhanced marketing results. The faculty is fully aware of the fact that working with industry won’t produce immediate results and neither will the university acknowledge the time and energy invested, as nothing is visible in the short run.
MS theses and PhD dissertations are completed as research articles — without any consideration for local industry. There are several benefits of involving local industry in university research activities. For example, students will not be unemployed after graduation. Secondly, they will receive a certain honorarium if projects are completed in collaboration with a local industry. And third, the university will correct its direction and build its reputation in a specific domain, like Stanford University has in science and technology, UC Davis in agriculture sciences and USC Los Angeles in film and communication.
For Pakistan, to catch up with its neighbours, it is imperative that higher education institutions set right their focus. They should target the industry in their community and work closely with them to add value. The cottage industry can produce high-value products. In some cases, university administrators who have never ventured into practical business would not understand the cottage industry and value addition. The idea is not simply to increase exports but to also add value to them — in a way that does not require expensive technology to complete this process. This is achievable provided there is a willingness to go the extra mile. An example of value-addition are dairy products — just one area that many of our small cities are known for.
The university regulators need to create a culture of increased industry engagement to enhance practical research skills and to boost the local economy through academic input. The colleges (now offering associate degree programmes) should be encouraged to adhere to professional qualifications — ADP in computer science, software engineering, and animation and game design can put our young researchers in the queue of professionals. They can then contribute towards turning around the country’s fortunes as freelancers or as employees of organisations working with foreign clients.
Finally, another important aspect missing in the university system is the training of students as members of customer services teams. Young graduates have no clue that in the US and Europe, it is normal for CEOs to be part of a team serving customers in the retail environment. The ability to communicate with foreign clients using correct and comprehensible language skills can also contribute to making our graduate market-ready and a real asset for industry.
The writer is the founding vice chancellor of the University of Sialkot and currently serves as the president of the JFK Institute, Lahore.
IjazQureshi@Berkeley.edu.
Published in Dawn, November 22th, 2024
IN recent days, we saw economic and social life in almost all of Punjab and KP come to a standstill. The air quality in Punjab, the most populous and most urbanised province of the country and parts of KP endowed with pristine mountains has become a more serious climate crisis than the magnitude of the 2022 floods.
With almost 100 million people inhaling polluted air — 10 times more toxic than WHO standards — the scale of this crisis has become a health emergency. The rain will provide temporary respite as it will help improve visibility but not permanently bring pollution levels down to healthy standards.
The problem has not emerged suddenly, nor can it be resolved quickly. How can Pakistan reverse the rapidly deteriorating situation? We need to set realistic targets for 2047 to commemorate our first 100 years as a nation.
The brewing challenge was recognised in 2014, by a World Bank-compiled study Air Quality in Pakistan: A Review of the Evidence, revealing that Pakistan’s urban air pollution ranked among the worst globally, and significantly exceeded international limits.
The report showed that air pollution contributed to approximately 235,000 premature deaths and over 80,000 hospital admissions annually. The air quality reduced life expectancy by up to 2.7 years across Pakistan. It seems that the report in 2014 was predicting the newspaper headlines of November 2024.
The problem of pollution has not emerged suddenly, nor can it be resolved quickly.
The warnings were ignored by policymakers, even though the study also pointed out that air pollution was costing up to 6.5 per cent of GDP annually. Healthcare expenditures amount to $47.7 billion (about 5.8pc of GDP), while lost labour output reaches $6.6bn. The cost of environmental degradation at the time was estimated at Rs365bn annually.
Given the gravity of the challenge, the study set a target of 70pc reduction in air pollutants by 2030 and 81pc by 2040. These goals required coordinated interventions across transportation, industry, agriculture, and waste management sectors, supported by strengthened institutional capacity and regulatory frameworks.
The Lahore High Court’s Smog Commission (2017) and the Judicial Water & Environment Commission (2019), could not persuade the provincial government to bring the issue to the forefront.
Ironically, it was only in March last year that the National Clean Air Policy was approved. Within a month, it was followed by the Punjab’s Clean Air Plan. Both NCAP and PCAP have shifted the signposts: achieving a 38pc reduction in PM2.5 emissions by 2030, compared to baseline levels, and to 81pc by 2040. In reality, a credible scientific baseline still does not exist. The policies’ effectiveness is further compromised by limited air quality monitoring infrastructure. While Punjab has begun to install such infrastructure, Balochistan, KP, Sindh, and Gilgit-Baltistan lack monitoring networks entirely.
Several complex factors drive this crisis. Some developing countries have used the following five framework principles to orient their policy on clean air:
First: adaptation and mitigation are intrinsically linked. We need to bust the myth that as a developing country, emissions reduction or mitigation is not our priority, and only adaptation is. The present air pollution crisis is proof that it is perilous for Pakistan to ignore mitigation measures.
Second: policies are for implementation. Starting with the National Environment Policy (2005), a stack of policies have highlighted the need for ambient air quality. Despite several trillion rupees worth of PSDP, air quality hardly received any investments.
Further, the policies beg implementation, not a downward revision of targets. NCAP and PCAP have both relaxed air quality parameters that fall behind the WHO’s 2021 guidelines. No reasons are offered for lowering standards. By reverting to pre-2021 WHO interim targets, Pakistan has effectively loosened the existing National Environmental Quality Standards from 2013. Some experts believe that it will potentially raise PM2.5 levels by more than 50pc.
Regrettably, some functionaries are now also arguing for reducing the ambitions of Nationally Determined Contributions (2021). Instead of assessing the barriers for its slow implementation, an important thought leader has recently stated that NDC 2.0 has “unrealistically high ambition”. In reality, the NDCs still lack an implementation plan, costing, or a secretariat to monitor its progress. Far from scaling down its sovereign commitments, Pakistan needs to scale up climate action for a convincing narrative for greater access to climate finance.
Third: align with global trends. The present crisis provides Pakistan an opportunity to join the global drive for decarbonisation, now gaining new momentum after Donald Trump’s announcement of exiting the Paris Agreement. This is the right time for Pakistan to commit to net zero. At this time, about 75pc of states have set net-zero targets accounting for 98pc of global GDP and 88pc of greenhouse gas emissions. The list includes our neighbours Bangladesh, China, India and the Maldives. This decision can serve as a compass for the direction of our journey.
Fourth: decentralised clean air plans and engaging stakeholders. Technical capacities as well as willingness exists in academia, think tanks, start-ups, and the private sector to engage in data generation, map emissions hotspots, deliver research analytics and carry out advocacy campaigns. This is particularly important as the data generated by the government is expensive, delayed, and unusable. The Punjab government can give legitimacy to independent datasets and spearhead their environmental data generation.
Fifth: formally engage with the government of Indian Punjab. Air quality is a transboundary issue, even if crop-burning is a small contributory factor. A dialogue is needed for cleaner air on both sides of the border, and for early closure of two coal-fired power plants closer to the border: Guru Hargobind Thermal Plant and Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Power Plant. The agenda and purpose, however, has to be collaborative rather than accusatory.
Finally, the 18th Amendment has not clearly delineated all environmental issues. The provinces can agree with the federal government to firewall Rs1.28tr to be collected as petroleum levy for urban transportation, pre-agree on the quality of imported fuel and vehicles, agree on subsidies and incentives for energy transition for two and three-wheelers away from combustion engines, and fast-track the phasing out of rickshaws. Afterall, 2047 is only 23 years away.
The writer is an Islamabad-based climate change and sustainable development expert.
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024
IT has now become a routine question. Every TV anchor and people I meet in any gathering all want to know: is it true that the economy is ‘improving’?
The short, and best, answer here is ‘yes and no’. Yes, because the deficits that plagued it have been plugged. No, because growth remains a far-off dream. The proper term to use is ‘the economy is stabilising’, but it is not yet, and will not be for a long time, ready to grow.
This presents a problem. Without growth, you don’t get employment generation to absorb the new entrants to the labour force, of which there are an estimated two million every year. You also don’t get income growth, meaning all the purchasing power that was destroyed in the inflationary fire of 2021 to 2024 will not be recovered. At least not in the near future.
But stability means the end of inflation, the plateauing out of prices which had begun to spiral out of control in early 2021 and reached an inferno by 2023. It means no shrill warnings of default, at least not for a few years, and no catastrophic devaluations, rationing of foreign exchange reserves, import controls, and so on. All that belongs to the past now, mercifully. Pakistan dodged a bullet in the summer of 2022, when foreign exchange reserves ran so low that they brought the country to the very edge of a disorderly and potentially catastrophic default. Then it dodged the same bullet again, in the summer of 2023, when it returned to the same position one more time.
Until we see deep-rooted changes being implemented, we cannot say the economy is ‘improving’.
Since July 2023, a set of policies have been implemented steadfastly that have finally averted the dire situation we faced back then. These policies included a very high interest rate and very high tax burden to be borne mostly by those already in the tax net. Between them, these measures extinguished economic growth and choked much of the otherwise routine economic activity. But the net result was that the pesky current account deficit, which returns every few years to drain our foreign exchange reserves, vanished and turned into a surplus. And the fiscal deficit came under manageable control, despite some issues below the surface with provincial surpluses and other line items.
These deficits were the main reason why the country’s foreign exchange reserves had depleted and inflation reached historic highs. With both deficits under control, the reserves stabilised and prices plateaued. So far so good. We’re in a good place.
But we cannot stay here for very long. This stabilisation is what happens every time in the first year of an IMF programme. There are no surprises here. This is precisely what the IMF medicine is supposed to do. Every government that has ever implemented an IMF programme in its first year in power has touted these achievements as its success. This history goes back to 1988, and even earlier. It has happened every single time. A new government enters office. The economy is nearly bankrupt. The new government signs onto an IMF programme. In the first year of the programme the deficits stabilise, growth plummets, reserves rise. The government claims victory.
But the hard-fought stability that comes as a result of the painful decisions made under IMF auspices is only the beginning. The real story is in securing the kind of changes in the structure of the economy that will enable it to grow without depleting its foreign exchange reserves and giving rise to inflationary pressures. The real game is in ensuring growth returns, but either without the deficits that destabilised it, or with the deficits but an accompanying, sustainable way to finance them.
What exactly are these changes? Consider for example, the fact that the state cannot operate a national airline or a power sector without accumulating massive losses. Or consider that the country’s exports remain wedded to the same commodity they were wedded to in the 1980s: cotton. How do we operate state-owned enterprises in a way that doesn’t lead to the accumulation of such massive losses? How do we build an export base beyond cotton?
These are the kinds of questions that require answers urgently to make the transition from stabilisation to growth. But successive governments from 1988 onwards have failed to make this transition. This is the main reason we remain stuck in an endless loop of the same policies that first stabilise the economy, then pump it for growth which destabilises it again making another round of stabilisation necessary.
So if you want to know whether the economy is ‘improving’, ask yourself this question: are deep-rooted changes taking place? Or do you see even the beginnings of deep-rooted changes being brought about? The answer is a clear no. One feeble first step was just attempted in the privatisation of PIA, and we all saw how that ended in an embarrassing fiasco, so much so that various ministers in the government are now blaming each other for the mess.
Until we can see deep-rooted changes being brought about to improve power sector efficiency, a reduction in the rate of accumulation of the circular debt, broadening of the export base as well as the base of revenues, expenditure management, plateauing in the rate of debt accumulation (both domestic and external), rising rate of investment driven by rising domestic savings, and so on, until we can see changes of this sort happening, we cannot say the economy is ‘improving’. We can at best say the economy is ‘stabilising’.
Here is the big problem with stability: it is temporary. Having found a fragile stability, after almost 18 months of hard and intense discipline in the management of the macroeconomic fundamentals, the government now faces the real challenge of transitioning from stability to growth. How well they manage this will decide whether or not we are seeing ‘improvement’.
The writer is a business and economy journalist.
khurram.husain@gmail.com
X: @khurramhusain
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024
COULD this space be better used than to pen a requiem to a fellow writer and columnist? Khaled Ahmed passed away last Sunday, in Lahore, just as the suffocating smog lifted, making life for those who have survived him livable.
Inevitably, any memoir of a friend must begin with one’s first encounter. I met Khaled in the winter of 1966. I had returned from London after qualifying as a chartered accountant. Khaled was still studying at Government College, Lahore. We were both invited by Farrukhnigar Aziz to perform in Anton Chekhov’s heavy drama The Seagull.
Nawab Kalabagh (then governor West Pakistan) had banned plays being performed by men with women. Mixed students in Government College could not act together but the GC stage was available to host amateur actors. Farrukhnigar cobbled together a small group which christened itself the Alpha Players (the first of hopefully many).
Shamim Ahmed (later Mrs Zafar Hilaly) played the lead role of Nina. Agha Ghazanfar (later Khaled’s colleague in the Civil Service) played her love sick swain Konstantin. Khaled had a lesser role as the village doctor Dorn. With more ambition than talent, I played the lead role of the amorous novelist Trigorin. I also volunteered to design the Russian costumes and the sets.
Khaled Ahmed chose to live in his own world.
The challenge came in finding a dead seagull in upcountry Lahore. I fabricated a facsimile in cloth. It should have worked, except that when Konstantin tossed the bird at Nina’s feet, it bounced, and bounced, and bounced.
After graduating but before joining our Foreign Service, Khaled worked with Sohail Iftikhar (son of the Congress politician Mian Iftikharuddin). Sohail had established Nigarishat, with the aim of publishing Urdu translations of historical classics. Khaled’s bilingual talents were evident in its first publication — a translation into Urdu of Niccolao Manucci’s Storia Do Mogor, Vol. 1: Or Mogul India; 1653-1708, an account of Mughal history under Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb.
Khaled often recalled Nigarishat’s teething problems, of Sohail’s oversize desk that got wedged on the staircase, forcing every visitor to clamber up or slide down.
Khaled’s facility with languages enabled him to master Russian. He served in Moscow under ambassador Jamsheed Marker. Khaled recalled Marker and himself being summoned to the Kremlin in the early hours one wintry morning. The Russians wanted to express their displeasure over the Indo-Pak conflict in December 1971. Ambassador Marker and Khaled were made to wait for some time. Then they heard feet stride purposefully along a very long corridor. The sound reached the door of the waiting room. A senior Russian diplomat entered, looked at them, and said: “You will regret this.” He then left as abruptly and slammed the door behind him. His footsteps resounded as he retraced his heavy tread along the cavernous corridor.
In time, Khaled left diplomacy to its own devices. He rejoined an earlier love — philology. He consorted with a harem of words. He chose to live in his own world, one in which suits and ties and personal ambition had no place. He preferred a motorcycle to a motor car. He wore shalwar-kameez long before and after Mr Z.A. Bhutto and Gen Ziaul Haq had made it mandatory.
He helped an upwardly mobile Pathan entrepreneur Rehmat Shah Afridi establish an English newspaper The Frontier Post, here in Lahore. Despite Khaled’s editorial skills, the newspaper lost money by the bagful. Once, Rehmat Shah admitted that when he asked his co-Pathan sponsors in Peshawar whether they should not cut their losses, he was told: “Your job is to run the paper. Our job is to find the money for it.” He added candidly: “We see it as an admission fee. How else can we penetrate the Punjabi upper class?”
During his long career, Khaled jumped from one journalistic ice-floe to another — writing for whichever paper or journal could sustain his intellectual weight. He wrote inimitable articles and editorials, ending his career as consulting editor with the Pakistani edition of Newsweek.
On a personal level, Khaled mentored my wife Shahnaz during her early days as a writer. He became a kind and perceptive reviewer of my books as and when they came out. We exchanged our publications as politicians trade un-pointed barbs, more out of professional respect rather than a venal rivalry.
Khaled’s only son lives abroad. Khaled’s lineal descendants though are his writings. His genealogy is traceable in his kinship with words.
Khaled Ahmed has gone. He has left behind 20 books and a plethora of informed, often provocative, always thoughtful opinions. His enduring legacy though is that special aura, what the French philosopher Gaston Bachelard described as “a special kind of beauty … born in language, of language, and for language”.
The writer is an author.
www.fsaijazuddin.pk
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024
PAKISTAN has turned to two US law firms to fend off Tehran’s penalty claim over the delayed gas pipeline project with Iran. Does this sound familiar? It should if we recall Reko Diq. Just recently, Pakistan settled a lawsuit with Barrick Gold over the Reko Diq mining project. And here we are again, staring down the barrel of another costly legal showdown — estimated around $18 billion.
Pakistan’s most profound lesson from history may be this: it seldom truly learns from it. The same mistakes are replayed like a broken record. The past seems to hold wisdom, but for some reason, we don’t heed it, and then arrive at a point when the world’s courts have to chase us down. Action only begins when a summons arrives — until then, we’re content to sit back and watch.
Pipelines have become synonymous with anti-climate pursuits, often cutting through indigenous lands and infringing on land rights. But the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline isn’t just about energy; it’s a display of global power dynamics. Here, geopolitics takes centre stage, overshadowing environmental concerns and indigenous rights.
In 2009, Islamabad inked a deal with Tehran to import up to a billion cubic feet of gas daily via a cross-border pipeline. Fast forward to 2024, and Pakistan has yet to lay a single pipe on its side. The reason? Ostensibly the fear of American sanctions. Iran, having completed the pipeline at its end, is demanding that Pakistan fulfil its commitment or face a hefty $18bn penalty. In response, Pakistan has enlisted two US-based law firms to defend its inaction. This legal manoeuvring underscores a decade of missed opportunities and geopolitical hesitations. As energy shortages persist, one wonders when Pakistan will move beyond excuses and pipelines on paper.
Pakistan faces urgency in resolving the pipeline issue.
The US threat of sanctions over this pipeline project with Iran is a reminder of Western influence dictating local energy choices. Pakistan faces a massive gas supply-demand gap that is only growing wider. This cross-border pipeline could deliver up to a billion cubic feet of gas per day to an energy-starved nation, which is desperate for relief.
The winds of change are blowing, and America is set to have a different administration; however, its Iran policy may remain unchanged or even take a harsher turn compared to the one under the Biden administration. Hence, expecting a different stance from the US on the Iran-Pakistan pipeline is not realistic.
As the global balance shifts from West to East — despite the election of Donald Trump as the next US president — the rules of the power game are bound to change. Western hegemony is on the decline. Pakistan — and many other countries — may no longer have to navigate their energy needs under the shadow of Western power. This transfer of power will not only alter the way international challenges are addressed but will also redefine the very nature of those challenges.
Pakistan has come to realise its potential in abundant natural resources and the pressing need to meet its own energy demands independently. Yet, we still lack effective policies related to the resources management, be it exploration or import of resources. For a country of our size, meeting energy demands requires solid, well-thought-out plans. Major decisions must account for global consequences. Poor management will leave us vulnerable to court battles. In a dollar-starved economy, we cannot afford to waste taxpayer money on lawsuits.
With Trump’s re-election, Pakistan faces even greater urgency in addressing the pipeline issue. We must anticipate a hard-line stance from the new Trump administration, which is likely to increase the pressure on Pakistan to abandon projects that involve Iran, thus raising the stakes for our economy. Avoiding costly fines and tensions with Iran requires immediate action.
Pakistan should explore alternative financing and partnerships for its energy projects, ones that align with global dynamics yet meet our critical energy needs. By resolving this quickly, we can protect our economy from punitive measures and redirect funds to essential sectors rather than legal battles.
Looking forward, Pakistan needs a strategic, long-term approach to energy and resource management. This means establishing policies that leverage our natural resources sustainably while remaining adaptable to geopolitical shifts. Developing our domestic infrastructure for energy independence, coupled with smart international alliances, will better position Pakistan to navigate external pressures without compromising on economic sta-bility. It is time to prioritise a resilient energy strategy that safeguards the country’s future.
The writer is a public policy specialist.
X: @umerasks
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024
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