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Tuesday, January 31, 2023
Iran condemns ‘cowardly’ drone attack on defence site
Iran on Sunday condemned a “cowardly” night-time drone attack that targeted a defence ministry site, at a time of high tensions over its nuclear programme and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
An anti-aircraft system destroyed one drone and two others exploded, the ministry said, adding that there were no casualties and only minor damage to the site in the central province of Isfahan.
“This cowardly act was carried out today as part of the efforts made by enemies of the Iranian nation in recent months to make the Islamic republic insecure,” Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said at a press conference with his visiting Qatari counterpart, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani.
“Such measures cannot affect the will and intention of our specialists for peaceful nuclear developments,” he added.
A fireball lit up the night sky in video footage widely shared on social media and published by Iranian state media, with people outside seen running and emergency service vehicles speeding towards the site.
The defence ministry described the attack as “unsuccessful”, saying it was carried out “on one of the workshop complexes of the ministry”, according to state news agency IRNA.
“The attack, which occurred at around 11:30pm (2000 GMT) on Saturday, did not cause any disruption to the operation of the complex,” it said.
Authorities did not elaborate on activities at the site, but IRNA said the strike had targeted “an ammunition manufacturing plant”.
It added that “one of the quadcopters used in the attack, which suffered less damage during the confrontation operation, was handed over to the security forces stationed in the complex”.
Parliament member Mohammad-Hassan Assafari told the Mehr news agency that “opponents and enemies” of Iran aimed to “disrupt the defensive power” of the country with the attack.
Iran has also faced Western accusations that it has been supplying armed drones to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine, a charge Tehran denies.
Major blaze
Iran has been engaged in a shadow war for years with its arch-enemy Israel, blamed for a series of sabotage attacks and assassinations targeting the Iranian nuclear programme, and with Israel’s ally the United States.
A few hours before the Isfahan attack, a major fire broke out at a motor oil production plant in the northwestern province of East Azerbaijan, IRNA reported.
It published images of the blaze in the key industrial complex of Shahid Salimi linked to the industry ministry, and said authorities were investigating.
Shahid Salimi in the city of Azarshahr is the largest industrial zone in northwestern Iran, hosting 790 factories and other facilities employing nearly 28,000 workers, according to state media.
Nuclear sites
Iran has several known nuclear research sites in the Isfahan region, including a uranium conversion plant.
In April 2021, Tehran announced it had started producing 60 per cent enriched uranium at the Natanz site in Isfahan province.
Negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, between Iran and world powers have stalled for months for multiple reasons, including the protests in the country.
The agreement offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme to guarantee that Tehran could not acquire or build a nuclear weapon — an objective it has always denied pursuing.
But in 2018 then-US president Donald Trump declared a unilateral withdrawal from the accord and reimposed a painful sanctions regime, prompting Iran to begin rolling back on its own commitments.
On Sunday, Amir-Abdollahian said Qatar’s foreign minister had passed on “messages from the other parties to the nuclear agreement”, without providing details.
“We welcome any initiative put forward by our friends in Qatar to solve the issue of talks,” he said.
Iran’s nuclear programme has been the target of sabotage, assassinations of scientists and cyber-attacks.
Iran has accused Israel of carrying out several covert actions on its soil, including an attack allegedly using a satellite-controlled machine gun which killed leading nuclear physicist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in November 2020.
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“When I was brought into prison, a jail official told me not to worry because I’d get bailed out in 15 days. I shuddered at the prospect of having to spend two weeks behind bars and wondered how I’d survive,” Junaid Hafeez told someone who visited him in prison soon after his arrest. That was 10 years ago.
He is a prisoner nobody is interested in. He was charged under blasphemy laws in 2013 in the most unfortunate circumstances, because he brought a fresh perspective to teaching his students in Multan’s Bahauddin Zakariya University and earned the wrath of a coterie of teachers — adherents of right-wing ideology.
His legal defence team maintains to this day that the so-called evidence against him was fabricated and patently flimsy, but in the environment we have in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, at least lower court judges are known to err on the side of caution — ie, decide less on the merit of the case and more on the grounds of self-preservation.
You’d ask why do they not walk away from a job as demanding as deciding about someone’s liberty, life and death as a matter of routine if they don’t have what it takes to be able to face up to any consequences of upholding the truth? But let’s not kid ourselves.
How bleak life must be for a brilliant young man, who returned to the country to bring light to university students.
We aren’t made of the stuff where principles such as transparent dispensation of justice is the most overriding concern of our robed interpreters of the law, no more than it is of the parliamentarians or defence personnel, or anyone else in society for that matter. Perks, privileges and position in society is what matters, and the fastest route to riches or at least financial stability.
Such cases are seen as dynamite. At least privately, some such officers of the law cite examples such as what happened to Junaid Hafeez’s lawyer. Rashid Rehman, the Multan-based human rights lawyer who took up the case, was warned in open court not to take up the brief. He expressed the fear he may not be able to make the next hearing.
However, the brave man did not relent and continued to represent Mr Hafeez. He was shot dead in his office in 2014. Nobody has been arrested or faced justice for that murder. The trial saw some half a dozen presiding judges come and go. Finally, six years later, in 2019, he was sentenced to death by a trial court inside Multan jail.
A member of the defence team, who described the verdict as utterly flawed, was optimistic that even in the present environment it would be vacated on appeal. All that needs to happen is for a date to be set for it to be heard on merit.
Using my very humble, and in the event useless, contacts, I tried to have a message conveyed to the senior most judicial figure of the country, pleading that something could be done so the appeal is heard but strictly on merit.
Rather foolishly, I hoped that someone who was instrumental in sending two sitting prime ministers packing and had acquired a reputation for trying to clear the long backlog of pending cases before the highest court, would see to it that justice was not denied by virtue of being delayed for a young man; an educated young man, whose liberty was taken from him, and whose life now hangs in the balance on pretty dodgy grounds. But pity me, even the nation possibly; nothing happened. Junaid Hafeez remains a prisoner. The appeal has not gone very far.
It breaks my heart to imagine how bleak life must be for a brilliant young man who returned to the country to bring light to university students. He elicited so much fear and hate among his obscurantist and, as my own experience with such a lot tells me, utterly incompetent peers that they not only got him kicked out of a job, but also of any semblance of a normal life.
There are endless travesties. Naqeebullah Mehsud, the unarmed young Waziristan man, picked up and killed by the Karachi police in cold blood. His killers have just been given a free pass by the trial court. Lawyers representing his family say they’ll appeal the acquittal as it flies in the face of a mountain of evidence.
Naqeebullah’s outrageous and evil murder led to the creation of the Pakhtun Tahaffuz Movement, one of whose leaders, an elected MNA from a Waziristan constituency, Ali Wazir, remains in prison. He lost 17 close family members to the TTP’s murderous violence. His crime? Calling out the follies of the security set-up in formulating policies based on the now absolutely discredited good, bad Taliban argument.
No superior court has stepped in to stop the nonsense and said the man is entitled to his freedom. He is released in one case, but before he can step out of prison, is entangled in another. These are all demonstrably mala fide prosecutions. The powers that be actually wish him to ‘apologise’ for publicly sharing his honest thoughts.
A less ham-fisted society may even have considered him for an advisory role in policy formulation, as he has experience few have, tragic as that has been. But no. The honourable black robes, whether knowingly or unwittingly, have been denying him his freedom. Had he been a politician seen as more ‘mainstream and not fringe’ would a different outcome have been possible?
Fundamental rights to me are inalienable. Nobody’s freedom should be curtailed on account of their views. But this principle needs to be applied across the board. Outrage and uproar can’t be selective. Nobody needs to be treated or made to feel like they are children of a lesser god. It can’t be simpler.
‘Ideology of hate’ consuming India, says Gandhi’s great-grandson
India’s rising tide of Hindu nationalism is an affront to the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, his great-grandson says, ahead of the 75th anniversary of his assassination.
Gandhi was shot dead at a multi-faith prayer meeting on January 30, 1948, by Nathuram Godse, a religious zealot angered by his victim’s conciliatory gestures to the country’s minority Muslim community.
Godse was executed the following year and remains widely reviled, but author and social activist Tushar Gandhi, one of the global peace symbol’s most prominent descendants, says his views now have a worrying resonance in India.
“That whole philosophy has now captured India and Indian hearts, the ideology of hate, the ideology of polarisation, the ideology of divisions,” he told AFP at his Mumbai home.
“For them, it’s very natural that Godse would be their iconic patriot, their idol.”
Tushar, 63, attributes this tectonic shift to the rise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Modi took office in 2014 and Tushar says his government is to blame for undermining the secular and multicultural traditions that his namesake sought to protect.
“His success has been built on hate, we must accept that,” Tushar added. “There is no denying that in his heart, he also knows what he is doing is lighting a fire that will one day consume India itself.”
Today, Gandhi’s assassin is revered by many Hindu nationalists who have pushed for a re-evaluation of his decision to murder a man synonymous with non-violence.
A temple dedicated to Godse was built near New Delhi in 2015, the year after Modi’s election, and activists have campaigned to honour him by renaming an Indian city after him.
Godse was a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a still-prominent Hindu far-right group whose members conduct paramilitary drills and prayer meetings.
The RSS has long distanced itself from Godse’s actions but remains a potent force, founding Modi’s party decades ago to battle for Hindu causes in the political realm.
Modi has regularly paid respect to Gandhi’s legacy but has refrained from weighing in on the campaign to rehabilitate his killer.
Keep fighting
Tushar remains a fierce protector of his world-famous ancestor’s legacy of “honesty, equality, unity, and inclusiveness”.
He has written two books about Gandhi and his wife Kasturba, regularly talks at public events about the importance of democracy, and has filed legal motions in India’s top court as part of efforts to defend the country’s secular constitution.
His Mumbai abode, a post-independence flat in a quiet neighbourhood compound, is dotted with portraits and small statues of his famous relative along with a miniature spinning wheel — a reference to Gandhi’s credo of self-reliance.
Tushar is anxious but resigned to the prospect of Modi winning another term in next year’s elections, an outcome widely seen as an inevitability given the weakness of his potential challengers.
“The poison is so deep, and they’re so successful, that I don’t see my ideology triumphing over in India for a long time now,” he says. “But it fills me with determination to keep fighting.”
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Bilawal says PPP ‘exploring legal response’ over Imran’s allegation against Zardari
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday said his party was “exploring legal response” to allegations made by PTI Chairman Imran Khan a day ago that PPP co-chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari was plotting a “Plan C” with the aid of a terrorist outfit to assassinate Imran.
In an explosive claim in a televised address on Friday, Imran said: “Now they have made a plan C and Zardari is behind it. He has unlimited corrupt money […] the money he loots from the Sindh government is used in elections, to buy MPAs […] whether it is the elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or Gilgit-Baltistan, he recklessly throws money around.
“He has given this money to a terror outfit. His facilitators are powerful people in the agencies. The decision has been taken from three sides and they have planned to execute the next crime,” Imran had claimed.
In a series of tweets today, Bilawal said, “We [PPP] are exploring legal response to Imran’s latest defamatory & dangerous accusations. In the past, he threatened my father that he was ‘in the crosshairs of his gun’.”
The foreign minister said that the “false accusations” increased “threats to my father, my family and my part”. “We take them seriously given our history”.
He also highlighted the fact that he and his party were called out by name in a recent threat letter by a terrorist outfit.
Bilawal alleged Imran had “released terrorists and arrested democrats” during his tenure, had handed over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to terrorist organisations, and that the PTI still “funds terrorist groups”.
Noting that Imran and his associates’ “history as both sympathisers and facilitators of terrorists” was well-documented, he asserted that all of it would be taken into account if any attack were to take place on him, Zardari, or his party.
The foreign minister castigated the former premier for exposing him and his party to “an increased threat” by making an accusation that “defies logic”.
Vowing to challenge Imran, he asserted, “We cannot let populist fiction dominate our discourse, poison our politics and damage our democracy. We will not tolerate being victims of terrorists and putting up with propaganda from their political frontmen.”
PPP leaders announce plans to sue Imran
Earlier today, PPP senior leaders Nayyar Bukhari, Farhatullah Babar and Qamar Zaman Kaira criticised Imran over his allegations, saying he had “lost his mind” and that they would issue a legal notice demanding him to retract his accusations.
Bukhari said the PPP’s stance is that the allegation made by Imran is “baseless and a lie”. He remarked, “Imran Khan has politically died […] He is afflicted with depression and panic.”
The former Senate chairman said: “In this panic, he keeps on blaming various institutions — whether it is the establishment, the election commission or the former army chief.
“His allegations are never based in reality. If they were, he surely would’ve approached the available forums according to the Constitution and the law but he never went there.”
Bukhari asserted: “In fact, the People’s Party is [ideologically] opposed to physical elimination [as] PPP itself has been its target.”
He then announced that the party would be issuing Imran Khan a legal notice and in it, “we are demanding that he withdraw his statement”. “If he doesn’t, the PPP has the right to approach the forums and courts for civil and criminal proceedings.”
Sitting beside Bukhari, Farhatullah Babar said: “He has said that Zardari sahab has reached an understanding with a terrorist outfit to end Imran Khan. Imran Khan should ask himself — would his enemies hire militants to kill him even though he himself is Taliban Khan.”
He added: “A person, who himself is a patron of militants, is saying a plot to end him has been made by hiring militants tells itself what his mental level is.”
The former senator asserted: “I genuinely believe that Imran Khan has now lost [his] senses, and he’s out of his senses because of the loss of power.”
Citing Imran’s decision to dissolve the Punjab and KP assemblies that were under his party, he said: “If you have lost your mental balance, then it is not the PPP’s or Asif Zardari sahab’s fault.”
Additionally, Kaira said, “We are demanding here today that the nation, the media, the whole civil society should demand Imran Khan to bring forward what information and evidence he has [as] he has made a specific allegation and not said that it is a hearsay”.
He claimed Imran’s politics was “not democratical but fascist”. “Putting his opponents in jail, making allegations, doing character assassination, stirring up mayhem and spreading sensationalism at specific moments […] are weapons of fascism.”
The PPP leader remarked: “Whenever Imran Khan is in a difficult situation and in depression, he tries to get out of that phase by putting [the blame of] his failures on his opponents, spreading sensationalism and attacking institutions.”
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Open, black markets align closely after dollar surge
KARACHI: Days after the removal of an artificial upper cap on the rupee that sent the local currency into a nosedive, the dollar’s rate in the black market has come on a par with that in the open market, but uncertainty kept both the seller and buyers away on Friday.
The rupee closed at 262.6 per dollar in the interbank market, down 2.7 per cent, on Friday, after a 9.6pc slump on Thursday, which was its biggest single-day dip, according to the central bank.
However, the exchange companies issued the interbank rate of Rs265 for the same day, reflecting variations in the rates in different banks. In the open market, the rupee slid by Rs7 to reach 269, while the Kabul rate was quoted at 270 on Friday.
Some currency dealers said the late evening rate of the open market rate was Rs275, but trading was almost negligible.
The rupee has been dropping to adjust to a market-based exchange rate after an artificial upper cap on the local currency was lifted in line with IMF demands.
The removal of the cap has resulted in the two markets aligning more closely, and exchange companies expected a black market in dollars to eventually dry up.
The country is in dire economic straits servicing endless external debts and battling rising inflation. Besides, left with only $3.68 billion in foreign exchange reserves, Pakistan barely has enough to cover three weeks of imports and desperately needs the IMF to release the next $1bn tranche of its bailout programme to head off a potential default.
The IMF said in a statement late Thursday that a review team will arrive in the capital Islamabad on Tuesday in a bid to break the deadlock over releasing more financial aid.
“Stability in the exchange rate is the key to knowing the exact price of the rupee. Only stability could convince exporters and others with dollars to sell their holdings,” said Zafar Paracha, secretary general of the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan.
He said once the dollar-rupee relation settles, the dollar holdings will flow towards the market. Bankers also said exporters did not sell their proceeds, which could relieve the cash-strapped country.
Bankers also believed that stability was a must to attract exporters and others to sell their dollars with the satisfaction that they were getting the highest price.
A senior banker in the currency market also endorsed that exporters didn’t sell their export proceeds.
However, Mr Paracha said the State Bank’s decision to provide cash dollars to exchange companies was not implemented. In Thursday’s meeting with exchange companies representatives, the State Bank’s deputy governor advised banks to provide cash dollars already in the accounts of the exchange companies.
“The trading on Friday was negligible. If cash dollars are provided as per the advice of the State Bank, the liquidity will impact the rates positively in the open market,” he said.
Meanwhile, the de-capping of the exchange rate is bound to produce another wave of inflation, already at 25pc, but the empty-handed government is ready to take all risks to get some dollars.
Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2023
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Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday that he fully expects an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this month, after which other multilateral lenders would also support the country to help mitigate its economic crisis.
“I fully expect that an agreement with the IMF will be signed this month and we will get out of these difficulties. And multilateral institutions will also support us.”
He made the comments while addressing the inaugural ceremony of the Green Line Train service in Islamabad. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Railways and Civil Aviation Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique and Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal also attended the ceremony.
The premier’s comments follow the IMF’s announcement of fielding its staff mission to Pakistan on Jan 31 for talks on the ninth quarterly review of a funding programme pending for almost four months. The completion of the review would release $1.2 billion for the country, which is facing a severe cash crisis as foreign exchange reserves deplete to a critical level.
It would also unlock inflows from friendly countries and multilateral lenders.
“This is a difficult time,” the premier acknowledged. He added, however, that the coalition government was trying day and night to bring the country out of the difficult economic situation.
‘Tough task’
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar addresses an inauguration ceremony in Islamabad on Friday. — DawnNewsTV
Addressing the ceremony before PM Shehbaz, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that bringing back development and economic growth would be a “tough task” but the PMLN-led government would accomplish it under the premier’s guidance.
Dar blamed the previous PTI government for the economic turmoil in the country.
“This quagmire is not the result of this government’s eight months but the five years of the previous government. We are suffering from the consequences of the adventures that started then — Dawn drama, Panama drama and PML-N ko farigh karo (get rid of the PML-N).”
He urged the country to introspect how Pakistan’s economy had fallen to the 47th largest in the world, despite rapid growth during the PML-N’s previous tenure.
The finance minister said the premier had great qualities and the entire team was assisting him in pulling Pakistan out of the quagmire of economic woes. “God willing, we will come out of it. Pakistan was created to survive.
“[The right] intention and hard work are needed. We will try our best, under PM Shehbaz’s guidance, to bring as many improvements as we can before the upcoming general elections. You can see history to see who brings development and economic growth. We will get back on track. It is a tough task and the distance is long,” he said.
Talking about the country’s financial situation at the start of his address, the finance minister said Pakistan was declared a “macro-economic unstable country” when the PML-N government took over in 2013.
However, the PML-N government “totally turned around” the economy with food inflation down to two per cent, GDP growth rate at 6.1pc, foreign exchange reserves at the “highest” level in the world and the stock market performing the best in South Asia, he said.
He called for an analysis of why Pakistan had gone down to the 47th largest economy when it was the 24th largest at the end of the PML-N’s tenure. “PM Shehbaz got a legacy of a collapsed state of affairs,” he said.
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Canada on Thursday appointed its first special representative on combatting Islamophobia, a position created following several recent attacks on Muslims in the country.
Journalist and activist Amira Elghawaby will fill the post to “serve as a champion, adviser, expert and representative to support and enhance the federal government’s efforts in the fight against Islamophobia, systemic racism, racial discrimination and religious intolerance,” a statement by the prime minister’s office said.
An active human rights campaigner, Elghawaby is the communications head for the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and a columnist for the Toronto Star newspaper, having previously worked for more than a decade at public broadcaster CBC.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau praised Elghawaby’s appointment as “an important step in our fight against Islamophobia and hatred in all its forms.”
“Diversity truly is one of Canada’s greatest strengths, but for many Muslims, Islamophobia is all too familiar,” he added.
Over the past few years, a series of deadly attacks have targeted Canada’s Muslim community.
In June 2021, four members of a Muslim family were killed when a man ran them over with his truck in London, Ontario.
In a series of tweets Thursday, Elghawaby listed the names of those killed in the recent attacks, adding: “We must never forget.”
The creation of the new job had been recommended by a national summit on Islamophobia organized by the federal government in June 2021 in response to the attacks.
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IN the face of stark adversity, a drop of ‘re-imagination’ has fallen in the stagnant, stinky waters; stirring them, and creating the first small ripples. I hope the ripples grow into waves. Things have to bounce back after hitting rock bottom. It is the physics of societies.
My last column in this space had simply listed some of our dubious distinctions in health. I ran the risk of being dubbed a ‘naysayer’ or ‘pessimist’ but I went ahead. It was widely noted. Miftah Ismail used the data in the first Reimagining Pakistan seminar in Quetta and tweeted his acknowledgment — thank you.
Seldom have I received so much feedback for an op-ed article. The gist of almost all the responses was this: very sad but very important to talk about it. Some of the responses reminded me of what I have missed out in this list of tragedies. These are good signs.
What is the way out of this quagmire? Let me speak first in broad strokes before approaching the minutiae.
First and foremost, we can rest assured that our tragic health indicators are reversible. Most of these conditions are preventable. For those always moaning about the lack of fiscal space for health, the return on investment on preventive public health interventions is extremely high. So, it is good value for money and a profitable business transaction.
Just one example: according to an estimate by So Yoon Sim, et al in 2020, the return on investment on one US dollar spent on immunisation against 10 pathogens in 94 low- and middle-income countries, using a value-of-statistical-life approach, would be $52.2 from 2021 to 2030. Can you beat this return on investment? Cost-effective interventions are available for almost all our health problems.
Elitism has permeated healthcare, as it has every other sphere of life in Pakistan.
But let us start with a more basic issue. As we all know, human health and healthcare are existential human needs. Suffice it would be to remember our last sickness. Remember Covid-19? ‘Jaan hai to jahaan hai’ — life is the most precious thing — was the mantra echoing in the long silences of our isolation.
Instinctively, we would not barter our own health for anything (damaging others’ is another story). This was the basis on which the constitution of the WHO was founded in 1948, defining health in physical, mental and social well-being terms and also establishing it as a fundamental human right without any discrimination with regard to race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.
It was also considered fundamental to peace and security. Unequal development in different countries in the promotion of health and the control of disease, especially communicable disease, was considered a common danger, as it became greatly evident during the global pandemic. And governments were considered responsible for the health of their peoples. Signing this syntax of health as members of the WHO, one after another, states started sanctifying the right to health in their constitutions. One analysis shows that until January 2020, 74 per cent of national constitutions were explicitly protecting some aspect of the right to health for all citizens. Pakistan’s Constitution sadly doesn’t provide an explicit right to health. The related provisions are weak and vague.
A good starting point to reimagine healthcare is by making a constitutional amendment for right to health, as was done through the insertion of Article 25-A for right to education as part of the 18th Constitutional Amendment. All political parties should come together to agree on this and table a bill to this effect after the next election.
Secondly, once the right to health is established, then the policy of universal health coverage should be implemented with full force. Our national health vision and current five-year development plan are already oriented towards UHC. Pakistan has developed, at the federal as well as provincial level, cost-effective essential health services packages.
It is a significant development over the last three to four years. Ensured sustainable provision of 88 priority health services at the district level can take care of the majority of healthcare needs of the population.
Despite having only 88 services, the comprehensiveness of the package is testified by the fact that even mental health services are included for the first time to be delivered at the primary health care (PHC) level.
The solution to our healthcare problem lies in strengthening PHC, which we have ignored. Elitism has permeated our healthcare system, as it has every other sphere of life in Pakistan. We perceive PHC through BHUs and RHCs as poor healthcare for the poor. In our minds, big hospitals in big cities with specialists constitute good healthcare.
This has inevitably resulted in higher allocations for tertiary care at the cost of PHC. Serious and sustained implementation of these packages at PHC level can transform healthcare and improve our shameful health indicators in the next few years. This requires a new financing strategy and a trained health workforce.
The other critical part is ensuring that the provision of these services covers everybody, including those who cannot pay. Financial protection schemes for the poor and other vulnerable groups is an integral part of UHC. The Sehat Sahulat Programme in Pakistan is a great response to this aspect of UHC.
Since around 60pc out-of-pocket expenditures for health are made in the private sector, keeping in view the inelasticity of demand in health, people, especially the poor, incur huge costs in buying healthcare in the private health market.
The SSP was envisaged and publicly financed to provide financial protection only to the poor and vulnerable for hospitalisation. But, alas, for entirely political reasons, the programme has been universalised for rich and poor alike. Keeping in view society’s power dynamics, the poor and vulnerable are going to be pushed to the margins.
Nor is it financially sustainable in the long run. The programme is also limited to hospital admissions and does not cater to ambulatory primary healthcare. All these issues demand serious and appropriate reforms. We will continue this discussion.
The writer is a former SAPM on health, professor of health systems at Shifa Tameer-i-Millat University and WHO adviser on UHC. zedefar@gmail.com
Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2023
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In the popular American TV show, How to Get Away with Murder, Professor Keating, a criminal defence professor, uses her expertise to help her students avoid accountability and escape punishment for murder.
In Pakistan, a similar political drama is playing out, but instead of getting away with murder, the government is using colonial-era sedition laws to silence and incarcerate political opponents. They want to get away unquestioned and remain unaccountable.
Early on Wednesday morning this week, Fawad Chaudhry, Pakistan’s former information minister and spokesperson for the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) — arguably the country’s largest political party — was arrested on charges of sedition.
Under the guise of Section 124-A (sedition) of the Pakistan Penal Code, police officers arrested him outside his home in Lahore on an obscure warrant issued 400 kilometres away in the middle of the night. The FIR also included sections sections 153-A (promotion of enmity between groups), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 505 (statement conducing to public mischief).
While it is often a norm for police in Pakistan to go days without arresting murderers and rapists, when it comes to political opponents of the ruling party, recent years have shown us they spring into action almost immediately, as in the case of Fawad. With complete disregard for his constitutional rights, the police took him to a suspicious facility, kept his phone with them, and later transported him to Islamabad in an anonymous black truck. As this was going on, the Lahore High Court issued an order to produce him for a hearing, but the court’s orders were ignored.
Colonial relic
Sedition laws are a legacy of the subcontinent’s colonial history, where masters looting and plundering the subcontinent were leveraging this law, among others, to jail those resisting enslavement. Today, these laws are used across the subcontinent, highlighting that countries like Pakistan are yet to free themselves from the horrors of colonisation. While the British abolished their own sedition law in 2009, it continues to function as a political tool in Pakistan.
In Pakistan, sedition laws are used as a short-term fix for governments to avoid being held accountable for their actions and silencing political opponents that dare speak truth to power. These laws have no place in a democratic society, including one as nascent as Pakistan’s, and their misuse undermines the very principles of democracy. It highlights one of the most critical issues citizens face simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights.
Perhaps musician and activist Shehzad Roy describes their use best when he says: “There is freedom of speech in Pakistan, but no freedom AFTER speech.”
The vagueness doctrine
Section 124-A of the PPC is a 153-year-old archaic law made worse through its vague text, making it the perfect weapon to silence Fawad.
It says: “Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Federal or Provincial Government established by law shall be punished with imprisonment for life to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine.”
Was Fawad threatening the state by asking the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to be accountable and lay out a plan for elections in two of the biggest provinces in the country? Was he speaking up against the state or inciting violence by asking the ECP to follow the Constitution of Pakistan? While his speech did include a ‘warning’ to the families of the ECP officials, the question remains: does the sedition law apply here?
These laws give government officials and institutions the power to discriminate against citizens by issuing warrants to suppress their constitutional rights. Ruling political parties should resist this massive temptation to use old-school discriminatory practices to maintain the status quo and muzzle citizens.
Change is hard, and it is hard because it requires losses. Changing such colonial laws will require a loss for a few in power. However, their loss will benefit our democracy and be a step in the right direction, ensuring freedom of speech for us all, which our constitutional right.
These outdated laws may have been helpful to our former masters, but they are detrimental to our young democracy. Fawad is not the first and will probably not be the last politician to have been targeted through sedition laws. Many before him have been silenced — from politicians to activists and journalists to owners of media houses. The politics of revenge is not new, and we need to escape this vicious cycle. It is progressively poisoning our society.
Arrest sedition
Rather than arresting Fawad, we should arrest sedition. A respected lawyer, a family man, a former federal minister, and most importantly, a citizen of Pakistan was brought into court with a white veil forcefully put on his face by the police as if he were a hardcore terrorist. This imagery should infuriate us all, whether it is Fawad or any other victim of political revenge. We let it happen. We must demand better — better policy, not more policing.
Arresting Fawad is a mere diversion — a short-sighted, tried and tested solution to divert attention from the real issues he raised a voice for. This unfortunate incident exposes this government’s inability to craft laws, its failure to live up to the historical economic crises of our times, its incompetent partisan agenda, blatant nepotism, and its continued stubbornness to not hold free and fair elections.
Sedition law has done enough damage and shunned many voices. Let’s work to end it. The government should release Fawad honourably and swiftly, fulfil its responsibilities to the people, guarantee constitutional rights and announce a date for elections.
Header image: Photo courtesy PTI Twitter account
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COMMENTATORS are often accused of using the English-language print pages to speak to a select few; at times only to each other. They retort by pointing out the atmosphere of suppression and censorship, which has bred the style of opinion writing particular to Pakistan: where what is said is sometimes only expressed so as to leave clearly legible the contours of what is left unsaid. However, some critique is quite valid.
Over the course of the year, we have received a lot of informed commentary on the legal process and the Supreme Court. I have myself attempted to add to the conversation by writing about how the court buried the doctrine of necessity in April and ordered the restoration of parliament after an illegal and unconstitutional intervention by the then Speaker.
I did not comment enough on how this finally came to pass only when the relevant army chief desired this outcome. When the current doctrine master deemed it necessary to bury necessity. Or why the court took five long days when the matter ought to really have been done and dusted in five minutes. We haven’t asked why the election commissioner was summoned by the court and asked whether immediate elections were a possibility.
We have spoken about the current coalition government which replaced Imran Khan along with his disastrous, and at times comical, management of the economy, and how it was a constitutional process. We have not dilated enough upon how virtually every act of this government since its acquisition of power has made plain their endeavour for power was the selfish necessity Imran Khan said it was.
Apparently, they needed to sort out their own legal issues of corruption progressing through the courts, and to inject state largesse into the veins of several sets of party machinery which were threatening to crack for being too long in the opposition without the grease of state funding. Fazlur Rahman was finally out of the ministers’ enclave after more than a decade of living in state-funded luxury. This malady needed urgent repair.
Also laid bare is how it was evident that it would be suicidal to stick to power at the precise point that the sting in the tail of the past regime’s scorpion was about to emerge.
Senior members of the PML-N are on record as having apprised their colleagues of the economic disaster that was to come, and how it was essential to give over to the caretakers and get a fresh mandate at the peak of popularity before it evaporated.
To come to power and to stick to power for this grand alliance, whatever it may claim, was to ensure that the 10-year plan that first brought us Imran Khan would be thwarted by the single appointment of a public servant; the gauge of qualification for the said appointment being the likelihood of disliking Imran Khan.
It is the common man’s dream that is bled at the altar.
The democratic deficit with which this government has conducted itself, the manner in which democratic space has been surrendered to the same forces which are alleged to have brought this coalition to power, is commented upon without the larger context: that this was the Faustian bargain struck by a few old men in order to preserve their tarnished financial and political fiefdoms.
We have talked about the unexpected wave which carried Imran Khan in the by-elections, despite everyone’s best democratic and undemocratic efforts. But we haven’t analysed fully why this occurred.
Was it simply an ignorant mass of people buying into the lie about a foreign conspiracy? Or was there more to it? There was an unprecedentedly high turnout in the by-polls; in certain constituencies, as many as 80 per cent of those who voted did so for the first time.
Some say that the aliens were ready to fiddle, but there was simply too much fiddling that needed doing in the end, so they relented. That there are more first-time voters than ever before, and they are evidently willing to forgive incompetence, immorality and even idiocy if it does for them what the past 70 years have not: rid them of the biggest elite capture compact — between a few families which possess wealth and political power without adequate explanation for either, due to the constant sacrifices they give at the altar of the establishment.
But these sacrifices are not theirs to give. It is the common man’s dream which is bled at that altar, whether it means less prosperity, because tens of billions of dollars are used to give subsidies for the rent-seeking elite annually, or the cruder actual sacrifice of security and dignity which party workers render every few years to allow their leaders to flee.
Three thousand PML-N workers were arrested around the time Nawaz Sharif spoke to the Gujranwala crowd. They must have felt vindicated three months later when their leader goose-stepped his entire party into parliament to vote for an amendment to the Army Act which let his named perpetrator, Bajwa, get an extension.
On power’s uniformed end, we have heard a similar story of greed and its disguise as merit or principles. A military official of a poor but troubled nation must be compensated enough to be above suspicion or approach. Comfortable living must be achievable through official remunerations. But since when did comfort start to mean billions of rupees worth of arable land as retirement benefit? A golf course in the mountains in the name of naval necessity or a DHA where there were mango trees? How many Okara farmers are we forced to label terrorists when we pretend principles and decorum whilst chiefs are alleged to retire as dollar millionaires?
Every champion of the people, every respecter of the vote has so far proven an opportunist. All that distinguishes between them is how long they hold out for, and what price they eventually sell out for. Yet there may no longer remain too many opportunities to bargain away the will of the people. The altar of necessity demands sacrifice. It does not care who bleeds upon it next.
India expects more clashes with Chinese troops in Himalayas: document
A security assessment by Indian police in the Himalayan region of Ladakh says there could be more clashes between Indian and Chinese troops along their contested frontier there as Beijing ramps up military infrastructure in the region.
At least 24 soldiers were killed when the armies of the Asian giants clashed in Ladakh, in the western Himalayas, in 2020 but tensions eased after military and diplomatic talks.
A fresh clash erupted between the two sides in the eastern Himalayas in December but there were no deaths.
The assessment is part of a new, confidential research paper by the Ladakh Police that was submitted at a conference of top police officers held from January 20 to 22 and has been reviewed by Reuters.
The report said the assessment was based on intelligence gathered by local police in the border areas and the pattern of India-China military tensions over the years.
The Indian army did not respond to a request for comment but the assessment assumes significance as it was submitted at a conference attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
India’s defence and foreign ministries also did not respond to requests for comment.
The Chinese foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
“Given the domestic compulsions … in China and their economic interests in the region, the PLA would continue to build up its military infrastructure and skirmishes would also get frequent which may or may not follow a pattern, the paper said, referring to China’s Peoples Liberation Army.
If we analyse the pattern of skirmishes and tensions, the intensity has increased since 2013-2014 with an interval of every 2-3 years, it said.
With the massive infrastructure build up by PLA on Chinese side both the armies are testing each others reaction, strength of artillery and infantry mobilization time.
The report also said India has been slowly losing ground to China in Ladakh as the border has been pushed inside Indian territory through the creation of buffer zones.
India and China share a 3,500 km (2,100 miles) border that has been disputed since the 1950s. The two sides went to war over it in 1962.
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ISLAMABAD: Amid fiscal challenges, the government has increased development funds for parliamentarians by almost 30 per cent from budgetary allocations to Rs90 billion and is set to distribute about Rs8.4bn to farmers through database of the Sindh government.
This was the crux of a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Wednesday that also approved almost Rs1bn in additional funding for the maintenance of rest houses and residences of the judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in various cities across the country.
Presided over by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, the ECC meeting also approved about 25pc increase in the price of a vial used in pregnancy tests and an assistance package to families of persons who lost lives during a recent political march. The meeting deferred a decision on a proposal for an increase in the prices of 54 other medicines.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had a day earlier said that Pakistan faced fiscal and economic challenges and wanted the IMF support to sail through these difficult times.
ECC okays Rs1bn for maintenance of apex court judges’ residences
A day later, the ECC was told that Rs70bn had been allocated for Sustainable Development Goals Achievement Programme (SAP) in the FY23 budget while another Rs17bn was diverted a couple of months ago on the orders of the SAP Steering Committee led by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal.
Informed sources said Rs87bn is being utilised at the rate of Rs500 million each in the 174 constituencies of members of the National Assembly supporting Prime Minister Sharif. However, some more funds were required for schemes in “deprived areas/communities” and hence Rs3bn additional funds were arranged through diversion from other heads. The total funds under SAP schemes thus amounted to Rs90bn for the current fiscal year, the ECC was told. Of these about Rs47bn would be used in Punjab, Rs28bn in Sindh and about Rs7bn each in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The ECC also approved a summary of the Ministry of Poverty Alleviation & Social Safety for the diversion of Rs8.4bn to the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) for cash subsidy to farmers affected by floods instead of subsidy for wheat seed (Rabi 2022-23). Further, the ECC directed BISP to initiate cash disbursement through its partner banks as per eligibility criteria and the amount to be disbursed to each eligible person identified by the Government of Sindh.
The ECC also approved another supplementary grant of Rs845m to the Ministry of Housing and Works for the repair and maintenance of the Supreme Court Building in Islamabad and judges’ residences, rest houses and sub-offices in various cities.
Adam X-1 lease extended
The meeting also approved a summary of the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) for extension in Adam X-1 development and production lease for five years from 10-02-2022 to increase domestic oil and gas production and reduce the burden of imported energy.
Adam X-1 Development and Production lease was granted for seven years from 10-02-2015, covering an area of 19.42 sq. km and located in the district Sanghar. The field still has potential for further commercial production.
The ECC also approved another summary of the Ministry of Energy for one-year Extended Well Testing (EWT) over Umair SE-1 Discovery Guddu from the start of production under EWT arrangements. It was informed that an exploration licence was granted over Guddu Block in 1999, operated by OGDCL. Based on the results of seismic data, OGDCL has made a discovery in the Guddu block from the Habib Rahi Limestone and Pirkoh Limestone by drilling a well namely Umair SE-1.
On the request of the Ministry of Commerce, the ECC allowed the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) to carry on pre-shipment inspection of imported wheat at load ports by its already pre-qualified six International Pre-shipment inspection agencies (PSIAs) to ensure the quality of imported wheat as per approved specifications. It was informed that several wheat consignments were due in the coming months.
The ECC also approved two summaries of the Ministry of Interior regarding the grant of financial aid of Rs10m to the legal heirs of the deceased who died during the recent suicide blast at I-10 Markaz, Islamabad and Rs20m for the legal heirs of the deceased who died in the recent long march of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.
The ECC discussed a summary of the Ministry of National Food Security & Research for a Rs667m supplementary grant for pay and pension of Pakistan Central Cotton Committee (PCCC) Employees and formed a committee consisting of Secretaries of MNFSR and Commerce headed by SAPM on Government Effectiveness Dr Muhammad Jehanzeb Khan to evaluate viable options for the financial sustainability of PCCC and to submit a report in 15 days.
Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2023
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ENI unable to deliver Feb LNG cargo to Pakistan, declares force majeure
Eni said on Wednesday that the delivery of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo to Pakistan LNG Limited that was scheduled for February has been disrupted due to an event of force majeure.
The Italian major has a 15-year deal to supply Pakistan LNG with one cargo a month from 2017 to 2032.
“February LNG delivery disruption is beyond the reasonable control of ENI and due to an event of force majeure. ENI does not benefit in any way from the situation,” said the company in a statement to Reuters.
“All the previous disruptions in LNG delivery suffered by ENI have been caused by the LNG supplier who didn't fulfill the agreed obligations. Also in these cases, ENI did not take advantage or benefit in any way from these defaults and applied all contractual provisions to manage such disruptions.”
Pakistan has struggled to procure spot cargoes of LNG amid elevated global gas prices, which spiked to record highs last year following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
LNG shipments to Pakistan under long-term deals are insufficient to match the country's rising fuel demand.
Pakistan LNG, a government subsidiary that procures LNG from the international market, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pakistan imported nine billion cubic metres (bcm) of LNG last year, according to Refinitiv data, down nearly 20 per cent from 11.2 bcm in 2021.
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EVEN by the abysmal standards of our broken legal system, the acquittal of former SSP Rao Anwar and his 17 subordinates in the murder of Naqeebullah Mehsud and three others is a travesty. It eviscerates the very concept of justice. What clearer manifestation can there be of the rot within our system than a controversial cop with connections in high places walking free, despite having boasted of his exploits as an ‘encounter specialist’? For many cynical observers, Monday’s verdict by an ATC in Karachi was a foregone conclusion. After all, the hidden hands of the state had extended every facility to Rao Anwar when, after mounting public pressure, an arrest warrant was issued for him a few days after Naqeebullah’s murder. After making an appearance at a court in Karachi, the police official went underground and managed to successfully ‘elude’ law enforcement across the country for the next several weeks. This, despite repeatedly contacting reporters on WhatsApp and, with the help of unknown individuals, making a failed attempt to flee abroad from Islamabad.
Even after he was arrested, Rao Anwar enjoyed kid glove treatment. He barely spent a few days in prison; instead, the Sindh government declared his residence in Karachi a sub-jail. Meanwhile, his trial progressed at a glacial pace, giving ample time for witnesses to be intimidated; several retracted their statements, some went ‘missing’. Ultimately, even compelling forensic evidence was not enough to convict him. The protocol that accompanied Rao Anwar to court, the deference shown to him by law-enforcement officials present there, as well as the insouciance with which he conducted himself, suggested that being on trial for multiple homicide was merely a temporary inconvenience. Between 2011 and 2018, at least 444 people were killed in ‘encounters’ led by the former SSP, according to the police’s own records; not a single cop was even injured. And yet no inquiry was ever carried out against him: Rao Anwar was above the law long before Naqeebullah’s cold-blooded murder. Staged encounters are abhorrent in the extreme: acting as judge, jury and executioner further brutalises an already corrupt police force. Any ‘police encounter’ must be thoroughly investigated and if found to be fake, the perpetrators should be tried and punished for murder. Instead, those who engage in this practice will now be further emboldened.
There are times in a nation’s history where it can redeem itself, and move, if ever so slightly, towards its stated ideals. The outcome of Rao Anwar’s trial was one such moment, but as it happens, the verdict will only deepen people’s disillusionment with the state of the nation. It has been said that “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” In Pakistan, sadly, the reverse seems to be true.
Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2023
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KARACHI: Honda Atlas Cars Ltd (HACL) has increased the price of various models by Rs300,000-Rs550,000 from Monday, citing uncertain economic conditions, inflation in material cost and volatility in foreign exchange rates.
After a jump of Rs300,000, the new price of Honda City MT 1.2L and CVT 1.2L is Rs4.069 million and Rs4.199m as compared to Rs3.769m and Rs3.899m. The price of City CVT 1.5L, City Asp MT 1.5L and City Asp CVT 1.5L has been raised to Rs4.449, Rs4.629m and Rs4.799m from Rs4.139m, Rs4.299m and Rs4.479m, up by Rs310,000-330,000.
With a rise of Rs360,000-400,000, HACL has fixed the price of BR-V S, HR-V VTI and HRV VTI S at Rs5.299m, Rs6.399m and Rs6.599m as compared to Rs4.939m, Rs5.999m and Rs6.199m.
Honda Civic 1.5L M CVT, Oriel M CVT and 1.5L LL CVT now carry new price of Rs6.849m, Rs7.099m and Rs8.099m as compared to Rs6.349m, Rs6.599m and Rs7.549m, showing a jump of Rs500,000-550,000.
In the second week of this month, Indus Motor Company (IMC), the assembler of Toyota vehicles, has raised prices in the range of Rs280,000 to Rs1.2m.
Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2023
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Exchange companies to remove cap on dollar rate from tomorrow
The Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP) announced on Tuesday that it would remove the cap on the US dollar from January 25 (tomorrow).
The exchange rate has been primarily hit hard by a steep decline in the central bank’s foreign exchange reserves, which have shrunk to $4.6 billion. Currency experts say the rupee has been falling “despite being managed” by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Amid a shortage of dollars, the gap between its rates in the interbank and open markets has significantly widened, drastically hurting the economy and diverting remittances from the legal banking channel to the grey market.
Some experts have hinted that the shortage of dollars could cause rationing of petrol and diesel in the next two to three months, ultimately hitting the trade and industry and even the agricultural sector, which needs diesel during the harvesting season.
On Tuesday, ECAP Chairman Malik Bostan chaired a meeting of the association that was also attended by General Secretary Zafar Paracha.
In a detailed statement issued after the meeting, Bostan said that the decision to cap the dollar rate had proved to be “negative”.
“Instead of falling, the dollar rate increased, resulting in the unavailability of the greenback in the market which also gave birth to the black market.”
He further lamented that citizens that wished to buy dollars for travelling or funding their education and health expenses were not able to do so and had to turn to the black market.
He said that the situation had created a “panic in the market”, leading the government to believe exchange companies were “deliberately blackmailing” them.
“Keeping these things in mind, we made a decision.” He further said that the association had a meeting with the central bank tomorrow at 9am.
“We have a meeting with the SBP deputy governor tomorrow morning as the governor is in Islamabad,” Bostan said. “We will take them into confidence over the decision […] the cap imposed in national interest has proven to be negative.”
He further said, “The dollar rate will begin decreasing once the black market stops operating. I would like to tell the nation that exchange companies aren’t able to get dollars from anywhere which is causing the shortage.”
Bostan further said that under the central bank’s directives, importers were being given the dollars received through workers’ remittances. He said that the central bank believed that citizens would sell their dollars to exchange companies, but added that this had also proved to be incorrect as citizens were coming to purchase the greenback instead.
Commenting on the SBP’s directive advising banks to “provide one-time facilitation” to importers in an effort to ease the ongoing crisis, the ECAP chairman said that this had also created “panic” in the market and increased the rate in the black market.
He said that the black market needed to be curbed. The only way to do this is to remove the cap on the dollar rate, he said.
“When people are able to purchase dollars easily, the rate of the greenback will automatically start to decrease,” the ECAP chairman said. “Remittances will also increase when the intermarket and the pre-market rate becomes the same.”
At the same time, Bostan also called on the nation to “boycott the dollar”.
“Pakistan is going through a crisis and needs each and every single dollar. They should boycott the dollar, apart from those using the greenback to undertake necessary travel or fund their education and health expenses.”
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It’s ‘now or never’ to stop Japan’s shrinking population, PM says
Japanese Prime minister Fumio Kishida pledged on Monday to take urgent steps to tackle the country’s declining birth rate, saying it was “now or never” for one of the world’s oldest societies.
Japan has in recent years been trying to encourage its people to have more children with promises of cash bonuses and better benefits, but it remains one of the most expensive places in the world to raise a child, according to surveys.
Births plunged to a new record low last year, according to official estimates, dropping below 800,000 for the first time — a watershed moment that came eight years earlier than the government had expected.
That most likely precipitated a further population decline in a country where the median age is 49, the highest in the world behind only the tiny city-state of Monaco.
“Our nation is on the cusp of whether it can maintain its societal functions,” Kishida said in a policy speech at the opening of this year’s parliamentary session.
“It is now or never when it comes to policies regarding births and child-rearing — it is an issue that simply cannot wait any longer,” he added.
Kishida said he would submit plans to double the budget for child-related policies by June, and that a new Children and Families government agency to oversee the issue would be set up in April.
Japan is the third-most-expensive country globally to raise a child, according to YuWa Population Research, behind only China and South Korea, countries also seeing shrinking populations in worrying signs for the global economy.
Other countries are also coming to grips with ageing and shrinking populations . Last week, China reported that its population dropped in 2022 for the first time in 60 years.
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Enough has been said, written and read about the problems in the country. The blueprints are elementary in developmental economics textbooks. It doesn’t require rocket science knowledge to uplift a debt-stricken country with a GDP per capita of $1,700 to a more respectable $3,000 per capita.
While the economic solutions are plenty and multi-pronged but require political will and resolve. Hence, the much-needed economic turnaround has been delayed repeatedly. Policymakers — politicians and bureaucracy — have been catering to their self-interests, playing to the gallery and are bereft of novel economic ideas. Someone has to communicate that 1980s policies of basic infrastructure needs would not set the platform for high growth in the 2020s. There are several elephants in the room.
Firstly, the gas and energy sector. Power generation needs to avoid imported fuel at all costs. Import bill fluctuation, stemming from volatile oil and LNG prices, creates an unsustainable balance of payment crises for Pakistan. The focus needs to entirely shift towards low variable costs generators, such as nuclear, hydel, Thar coal, solar and wind. Indigenous Thar reserves are a mega powerhouse and a success story with tremendous economies of scale and deceleration of input costs.
Similarly, hydel with water storage is the need of yesterday. Many Pakistanis are already using cylinders for gas. People in the lowest income strata should be sold gas at cost and compensated with monetary compensation through Ehsaas or Benazir Income Support Programme.
This isn’t the 1980s (US funds for Afghanistan), 2002 (War on terror) or 2015-17 (oil prices crash) for Pakistan to expect external help
Secondly, hand over the electricity and gas distribution to the provinces and private sector (please). There is no (genuine) incentive for the discos to improve their performance, i.e. theft, recovery, line losses and smart metering. These employees have no significant monetary incentive to rampant corruption. Illegal kundas and kharchi concepts have paralysed the efficient system altogether.
In addition to incompetence, political patronage is a key ingredient to malfunctioning, leading to a heavy burden on the federal exchequer. Discos should be privatised and listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange with employee stock ownership plans. Profits should be shared for the social development of the district, city and province.
Thirdly, energy exploration must be expedited on a war footing basis. The last decade has seen Pakistan’s production decrease from 4 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) to approximately 3bcfd, while unconstrained demand is nearly north of 6-7bcfd. The top energy exploration companies have been trapped in circular debt due to the government’s unwillingness to recover costs — let the market function — and have been ignored with the advent of ever-mobile imported RLNG.
Even the latter has been stuck in limbo with no new RLNG import terminals set up due to the unavailability of pipeline capacity, which in turn is contingent upon Suis or geopolitically sensitive Russia-Pak North-South pipeline. The country is blessed with massive recoverable gas reserves, but those require constant exploration activities and cash-rich balance sheets of energy conglomerates.
Exports of $30bn are not enough to finance the country’s food and energy bills, let alone pay for machinery and raw materials
Fourthly, perennial ignorance and indifference towards the export sector have crippled the country’s ability to finance imports, constantly relying on overseas Pakistanis to support 230m people back home. Unsustainable energy policies — price and availability — coupled with constant currency volatility have kept the country’s export potential capped.
At 7 per cent of GDP, $30bn yearly exports are not enough to finance the country’s food and energy bills, let alone pay for machinery, raw material and intermediate goods. Admittedly, as a cheap labour-intensive economy, IT exports are a viable solution with the ability to scale 10x in less than five years.
Unfortunately, most top IT houses decry the skillset in the country as the country has failed to produce educational powerhouses enough to produce quality 50,000 graduates per year. Instead of constructing buildings and giving laptops, we need a systematic overhaul of the education sector to empower Pakistanis — especially women — with exportable skillsets.
Fifth, an adequate and fair taxation system is required that taxes the rich and relieves the poor. Pakistan’s lower to the middle class has been unequally shouldering the burden of the colossal failure of the tax collector to go for the rich. Sacred cows such as real estate, agriculture and traders can not be tinkered with owing to political interferences of powers that be.
Resultantly, the already squeezed middle class finds ways to apply for jobs abroad and migrate. Perhaps that’s what policymakers want — let skilled and unskilled labour go abroad and send dollars back.
All politicians — especially the economic managers — need to take an oath and give personal guarantees that an annual primary surplus of 1-2pc will be maintained for 10 years, failure to do so would render their leaders disqualified.
For the country to escape its self-inflicted Bermuda island that has swallowed the otherwise sustainable vehicles, pillars of the state need to get out of winter slumber blankets and see the economic frustration among the masses before it is too late to escape. Remember, this isn’t the 1980s (US funds for Afghanistan), 2002 (War on terror) and 2015-17 (oil prices crash). We are on our own. No more hand-holding. The hard work begins.
The writer is an independent economic analyst
Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, January 23rd, 2023
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Nearly every civilian prime minister in Pakistan has had to leave office prior to the expiration of his/her stated term. Just as the army’s blessings were crucial for the PMs to ascend to the highest civilian office, so too they have had to leave unceremoniously once they fell out with the establishment. The three-year itch is when things have historically gone sour, when the same page begins to rip.
To students of Pakistan’s political history, the writing was on the wall. When Bhutto could be sent to the gallows and Nawaz into exile why would it be any different for Imran Khan? But this history was lost on PTI supporters. They believed Imran was exceptional. Until he wasn’t.
Yet, as a firm critic of Imran’s politics, I must acknowledge that his charisma has proven overbearing. Who would have thought that when he falls out with the establishment, lifelong supporters of the institution would turn against it? That high-ranking retired soldiers would shift allegiances to him and become critics of the very institution they served in and benefited from?
As an objective analyst I must hand it to Imran. This is a tabdeeli (change) that only he has managed. Yet his supporters are not interested in democracy or civilian supremacy. They are only convinced that anyone who opposes him is evil (read: corrupt, lifafa, chor, daku) and those who stand by him unquestioningly have seen the light. It doesn’t matter if it’s Reham Khan or Gen Bajwa; Aleem Khan or Jahangir Tareen. As long as they are tied to Imran Khan they are good people but the minute that link is severed, they become horrible. This is what is meant by ‘Imran is our red line’.
They believed Imran was exceptional. Until he wasn’t.
His authority must be accepted blindly. With the result that the party that was ostensibly created to counter undemocratic dynasties, has no real party structure and is entirely reliant on one man. That man is undoubtedly very popular and can contest from seven seats and win them all in the by-elections. But that popularity does not hold in the Karachi local government polls, where PTI candidates were lacklustre and the party slumped to third place, behind rivals PPP and JI.
Party stalwarts like Fawad Chaudhry have announced that if elections are held on the seats from which PTI MNAs have resigned, Imran will contest from every constituency. So he will contest from 70 different places? Even if he wins all 70, what will happen when he vacates those seats (for he can only hold one ultimately) and has to field replacement candidates? How many of those seats will PTI be able to retain?
And what about another perfectly possible scenario? The fabled Minus One. What if Imran Khan is disqualified? Again, if it can happen to Nawaz Sharif why can’t it happen to Imran? Certainly there are legal cases outstanding — the matter of Tyrian White, the foreign funding case, the Toshakhana case. Any one of those can lead to his disqualification.
Let’s compare how PML-N dealt with Minus One. Not well, to be honest. Unlike PPP, where there was a clear uncontested succession within the family, made possible because of tragic assassinations, the Sharifs emerged divided. Matters are further complicated by Nawaz’s daughter, Maryam, and Shehbaz’s son, Hamza, vying for pole position.
In a popularity contest, Nawaz and Maryam would easily outdo Shehbaz and Hamza. But it isn’t April 2022 anymore. It’s January 2023. And the economy is tanking. Granted the downhill trajectory had begun during Imran Khan’s time. But the current government has not been able to arrest the nosedive. Replacing Miftah Ismail with Ishaq Dar was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.
Unlike PTI, where one man reigns supreme and defines the party, PML-N supporters and workers are split. They are not all willing to blindly acquiesce. This is a good thing for a democracy. There must be dissent within political parties for democracy to properly take root. Given our history, one must add that it is not the prerogative of the establishment to manufacture that dissent. But that dissent must surface organically.
In that regard, Miftah Ismail’s story must be heard and heeded. Was his removal the result of family connections trumping merit? If Nawaz Sharif wants to leave a legacy, he shouldn’t focus on tightening the family’s hold on the party, but on hearing the dissenting voices of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and other loyal party workers on how to better run affairs.
This should also be a lesson for the PTI supporters. They need to start thinking beyond Imran Khan. What does the party stand for besides hate for opposing politicians? What will be their strategy if Imran is disqualified? They too must heed the dissenters like Jahangir Tareen and Aleem Khan, rather than ostracising them.
When 23-year-old Ayra* got engaged in September 2022, she was over the moon… until she realised that her wedding date had been set for December. In desi wedding time, that is a blink of an eye. She thought she had some idea of what was to come because she’d planned her sister’s wedding a few years ago but, in fact, she underestimated the curveballs thrown one’s way in the fast-advancing avalanche of wedding planning.
Cue the mood boards, meetings and samples. For Ayra, her dream wedding had always been royal-esque. Not Kate Middleton royal, but the royalty embodied by the Mughal courts of our own history. Each piece of the puzzle had to fit together — an intimate sundowner nikaah melding seamlessly into a mayun that lasts till the early hours of the next morning — complete with an outfit change of course. Mehndi dances to rival any Bollywood movie and the perfect rukhsati moment.
Ayra was hardly alone in her quest for the perfect wedding. ‘Decemberistan’, as so many of us know it, is the crux of our year. Young and old, students and travellers — all convene to attend weddings like their lives depend on it. A shaadi season that used to be confined to December alone, has now stretched out to almost all of the winter months. A popular designer reported to Ayra that he alone has had to make 400 wedding dresses just for December and January this year.
Pakistan’s society weddings — large, multi-day extravaganzas to celebrate upper class unions — are back after the lull of Covid-induced scaling down in the past couple of years. Brides and those involved behind the scenes share their experiences of what it takes to organise the festivities and the new stresses involved…
ALL HANDS ON DECK
With only three months left till her wedding, many vendors already booked up till the end of the famed shaadi season and multiple mood boards left to execute, Ayra assembled a team of her strongest bridesmaids. Both her sisters were still in the US, unable to make it until the very last week of her wedding, and yet WhatsApp groups were made to plan outfits, coordinate colour themes and even a few surprises. Still, there was a lot left to execute and Ayra was relying on her best friends to help her make it through.
At one particular dance practice, Ayra recalls feeling more frazzled than usual. The tailor had come a few hours later than he’d said he would, which meant he now clashed with the time that most of her friends had gathered for one of their final run-throughs for the mehndi dances. He also came bearing news that her mehndi outfit might not be ready in time, which led to another round of panic.
As Ayra dealt with this crisis, her sister, still jetlagged as she had landed less than 24 hours earlier, was frantically finalising the designs for flower jewellery that Ayra would be wearing in the lead up to the bigger functions and, as Ayra herself could tell you, planning for her has never been an easy feat.
Her friends decided to surprise the bride-to-be with a bridal shower just for her — filled with fun games and a surprise performance — but alas, the event took longer than expected to start.
“It took my sister almost an hour to convince me that we were doing a ‘family photoshoot’ because it was her responsibility to get me ready and I kept asking questions and finding reasons to change the plan — only to get there and realise my friends had planned a surprise bridal shower for me,” she tells Eos.
A COMMUNAL AFFAIR
The last few months leading up to her wedding had been overwhelming for her. Although she always knew she wanted a certain kind of wedding, when it came down to it, there were so many question marks all of a sudden. She realised that all her planning had involved only herself, but a desi wedding is never centred around one person. Instead each person in her family and among her friends had their own ideas on what they wanted in her wedding.
It is hard to say no to people you love. After participating in her loved ones’ weddings all her life, how could she expect her own wedding to be any different?
But even the best of bridal squads fall short against the ravages that the hectic social activity of Decemberistan brings. As Ayra sits on the other side having had her strongest soldiers fall to migraines, wardrobe malfunctions, event planner slip-ups and uncoordinated announcements, she shares how surreal it feels for something that seemed so large and looming to suddenly be over.
“I always had a very particular vision of how I wanted my wedding,” she shares.
“I sit on the other side nitpicking at details, shoots and aesthetics. It’s surreal that my own wedding has already happened. We look at weddings all through the year and often anticipate the prospect of executing our own, with our own vision. At least I did. Now it’s done. With all the halla gulla [fanfare] gone, the silence makes me appreciate it even more.”
For anyone who attended, it appears that the bride got everything she wanted out of her wedding but, though overjoyed, Ayra can easily sit down and tell you all the small things she had wanted to happen that just couldn’t go through with.
It’s easy to focus on what the event planner missed out, the friends who couldn’t make it and the small things that couldn’t happen. As she looks back at her wedding — while simultaneously studying for her final year medical school exams — she worries about why it’s so easy to focus on what didn’t happen instead of what did, even as she acknowledges that so much went right.
Ayra’s wedding involved a lot of music and dancing. From the perfectly curated dance practices that needed no choreographer, to Ayra being the star of the dance floor, it was all perfectly her — except it almost wasn’t.
The constant comments to not dance at her own wedding because it wouldn’t look appropriate to guests got to her, despite her confidence in her decision. While she ended up doing the dances she loved, that pressure was a reminder of how much weddings are all about conforming to expectations and trends — but for those who manage to break free of that, something truly magical can happen.
WEDDING TAKEOVER
While each wedding, including Ayra’s, is unique to the couple planning it, it’s also interesting to see all the similarities that come up in the weddings we see these days. Ayra isn’t the only bride who has felt like she’s had to put everything else to the side to focus on wedding planning.
‘Instagram weddings’ this shaadi season have by and large started to define who we are, and what we mean to each other and ourselves.
It’s pretty clear to every one of us that the days of ‘ghar ki dholki’ and simple weddings are long gone, and whether it’s the aftermath of the pandemic, social media influence making everything larger than life, or something else entirely, it seems everyone is wondering just why is it that the shaadi season has become so much bigger than all of us.
Everywhere I go, I hear people talking about how they’re tired of going to weddings and yet, the weddings never end. What is it about weddings that draws us like moths to a flame? Why have so many of us developed a love-hate relationship with weddings?
“Weddings are such a big part of our society, kyun ke shaadi tau sab ne karni hai [because everyone has to get married],” states Maria*, the owner of an event company in Lahore, “How we choose to do it is a choice we have to make.”
The Lahore-based event planner puts weddings at the very heart of our society — both economically and socially. From bringing people from across the world together back home, to establishing new relationships, to the jobs the wedding industry creates, she’s seen every aspect of it from behind her planner.
A desi wedding is never centred around one person. Instead each person in her family and among her friends had their own ideas on what they wanted in her wedding. It is hard to say no to people you love. After participating in her loved ones’ weddings all her life, how could she expect her own wedding to be any different?
Aleena, who is currently planning her own wedding — with festivities lined up for the end of March — is making many of those choices amidst hopping from appointment to meeting to trial. She spends most of her day in the car, and when she turns to scroll mindlessly on her phone, she’s met with pictures of more weddings.
Her focus is her friends and family, and she’s aiming to be picky about her guest list to really be able to enjoy with the people she loves. “Of course I am having one bigger event because, as my parents reminded me, it’s their daughter’s wedding too, and I want them to get what they envisioned out of it as well,” says Aleena.
As she comes back from her bridal fitting she finds herself wondering why she’s drawn to certain trends — the confusion between what she actually wants and what she’s been exposed to leaves her wondering how she can best make sure she enjoys her wedding just the way she wants.
UNCONVENTIONAL CHOICES
For one, she’s not going to be confined to a stage. She has planned an immersive line-up of events, so she participates in every single one instead of being a passive spectator. As a minimalist, her focus is on having more things to do to keep the guests entertained than spend her budget on decor or catering to large guest lists.
In fact, the function she’s most looking forward to is the ‘Games Day’, where both her guests and her will come dressed in their “finest” lounge wear to compete in races and figure out who knows the couple best.
“I’m not having a mehndi because that’s not a vibe I’ve ever enjoyed and it’s been interesting to see how the people I’ve told have reacted. It’s almost as if weddings here can’t be complete without one,” she says.
Still she’s well aware of how things might change even in just two months and she laughingly requests to not be held accountable for anything she might end up doing instead. “We talk so much about what’s wrong and what’s right, but weddings are a celebration and they should make the couple happy, so that’s what I’m focusing on. There’s no one way to have a wedding,” she says.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LENS
For Rahat Rafiq, the founder of R World photography, the answer to what draws him to weddings was simple: the people.
Rafiq, who’s been running R World for almost a decade, says that while he has tried a few genres, including fashion, he always got drawn back to weddings. “Weddings happen because of people. I’d say that the wedding photography genre chose me. I’m a very people-driven person and at weddings I get to see new people, to observe new families,” he shares.
Despite being on his toes as he covers multiple weddings day in and day out, he manages to pause and reflect.
When Rafiq first started covering weddings, he did so under the guidance of his mentor Kohi Marri, and initially it all seemed like glitz and glamour, until he covered a wedding on his own for the first time. It was then that he realised just how much more complicated it can be to cover weddings for all sorts of different people.
Rafiq is the kind of person who loves observing people from behind his lens. “I often don’t tell people of my observations because I don’t want to accidentally creep anyone out,” he laughs. Since he started R World he’s had more than a couple of memorable weddings to cover.
The one that stands out most recently when it comes to seeing just how many people it takes to make a desi wedding is one where he covered a French-Pakistani family. “The grandparents, who lived in a small village in France, must have been at least 80. They travelled from their village to Paris, then to Istanbul, and then Karachi via another transit. That was the crux of family for me,” he says.
Not all the families he’s observed are like that and Rafiq casually puts the kind of people he’s worked with into three categories. The first are what he describes as bride-focused or groom-focused weddings, where the family plays little to no role or is not in the limelight because the couple or one person in the couple has the focus on themselves.
He counters that with the opposite — family-focused weddings where each member of the family plays a key role, and oftentimes the bride or groom won’t even take a single step without their instruction. Weddings often bring out the best and worst of our social interactions — and most often that starts at home.
The third category is the most interesting for him. “There is a category of people who are generation-specific lovers of family. You’ll see dada doing sehra bandi, nana doing rukhsati or nikaah because that is how interlinked the family is. But often with these families, I can’t always tell what it means,” he shares.
He’s also increasingly noticed the delays and ‘fashionably late’ events that are occurring simply because there’s a lack of respect for time. The phrase Wedding Standard Time has become a joke amidst many of the weddings he’s attended.
“Discipline is everything, so if you’re planning your wedding, start with that. If you’ve given the time of 7:45 start at 7:45 despite who has or hasn’t shown up. Do it once, do it twice, the third time they’ll show up before you.”
As he continues to play his role behind the lens, Rafiq’s focused on giving his customers the best experience, right from the beginning of the photoshoot till the day he delivers photos. But in all these years, he’s learnt a lot more about the impact of weddings than just improving his photography skills. More than anything, he’s seen people stress.
“People panic a lot more than required, and they forget they actually have to enjoy the wedding. The photos get compromised, plans get affected and regret comes in later,” he advises future brides and grooms.
Event planner Zoreed Raza shares that her wedding planning experience started in the days when people would rely on magazine cut-outs for inspiration instead of social media posts and says times have changed significantly over the last couple of decades.
The big, fat Pakistani wedding has a life of its own — looping people in from all walks of life. We may see it as a celebration of family but, the pressures one has to undergo often puts these relationships to test.
“First just a stage and some flowers would be enough,” she says. “Now you need multiple vendors to cater to just the wall designs. Thousands of vendors have entered into this industry. All of this has happened due to social media, which has created a large wedding industry. When I entered this industry, none of this was happening. There were only tents and food. Then we started making sofa sets, then wall panelling on entrances etc,” she adds.
THE SCALE OF STRESS
At the Lahore-based event company, that also manage most of what goes down behind the curtain at weddings, similar sentiments arise.
“The one thing people get wrong is that good healthy emotion seems to have gone out of the picture and is being replaced by stress,” says Maria. “Interestingly, enough people were less stressed during Covid weddings. I saw many clients actually being thankful that they could only host a small event, because they seemed to enjoy that more,” the young event planner says.
That shift in mindset says a lot about where weddings go right as much as where they go wrong. For the couple getting married, a wedding should always signify their happiness, no matter what size that happiness takes.
But no matter the scale of the events, it truly takes a village to organise a Pakistani wedding. And so when Zara’s only brother-in-law got engaged, she knew it was on her to hold the fort down. As the family had thrown a grand wedding for Zara and her husband, they were planning the same for their younger son — and everyone wanted to play a part. Of course, Zara being six months pregnant by the time his wedding rolled around didn’t make things easier.
Her current situation brought about an interesting observation for her. “Naturally, I didn’t wear heels at all to any of the events, but I’m glad I was comfortable about my height. I was already feeling so conscious because I was showing more than I had expected in some of my outfits, and if I was conscious of my height I think that would’ve made it worse,” she says.
Having gotten married herself in December 2021, and a fashion expert, it wasn’t surprising that she became the go-to organiser for all things wedding related. Each part, after all, needs to be meticulously planned and, in the current digital age also needs to be curated to Instagram.
As Zara points out, “When photographers post pictures of couples at weddings, everyone from the dress designer, make-up and hair artists and even jewellery designers are tagged. It’s a complete curation in itself.”
While that may make it easier to find inspiration, it also creates a certain pressure to associate with certain brand names — which Zara acknowledges can take the fun out of planning your unique wedding experience.
And this wedding was certainly unique in its own way, particularly due in part to the enthusiastic guests. After the rukhsati, when the bride and groom came home, their car was stopped in the driveway by a group of the groom’s mom’s closest friends — who in true desi fashion, demanded payment for letting the couple out of the car.
They stood on the bride’s side of the door, only to realise, halfway into the negotiations, that the bride was no longer there. Amidst all the noise, the bride had quietly jumped to the driving seat and exited from there, which is a feat in itself when you’re wearing full bridal attire complete with lehenga and jewellery.
When the week-long wedding events culminated in the valima, Zara found herself sitting between her mom and sister for a time, who took it upon themselves to take care of her in her current state.
“Somehow they both started feeding me at the same time and it got to a point where I wouldn’t finish one bite and the other would feed me another one, until I got so frustrated I got up and left,” she laughs, acknowledging the kind of special attention she’d gotten throughout the wedding.
But despite the two weddings being only a year apart, Zara’s very differing experiences made her look back at what she got wrong when she herself was a bride.
“At my own mehndi, I was so worried about how I looked, how people would perceive me, what family members might think that, even though I danced, I wasn’t able to enjoy as easily as I wanted,” she says, adding “this time round, I was able to have so much more fun because I didn’t let these things get to me.”
It’s why she advises brides to not do what she did. “Choose dresses and designs you feel comfortable in, and ones that make you feel confident,” she shares. She adds, “Don’t just jump on trends, and make sure you focus more on enjoying the moment.”
The big, fat Pakistani wedding has a life of its own — looping people in from all walks of life. We may see it as a celebration of family but, the pressures one has to undergo often puts these relationships to test. And on the outside, it may seem that the wedding only has to do with the couple showcased on social media, in fact, they are but a small cog in the grand machine of the wedding industry.
Various brands have now emerged within this industry, each laying claim to a specialisation that was perhaps never before recognised as a task that needs to be outsourced. It is not just that these tasks — like vendor management for food, flowers and tent set-up, photography, etc. — have become an added burden to one’s wallet, but also that they need to match certain ‘aesthetic’ requirements, one that is in line with Instagram trends. However, much is lost during this process.
For one, all the couples look exactly the same. The element of novelty has taken a backseat… till the next Instagram trend. For two, these newfound aesthetic requirements in upper class weddings have gotten more mouths running about how yet another wedding has failed to match the expected standards. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the process of making weddings look picture-perfect often overshadows those involved in it, making many question why they stressed over making something look a certain way to an extent they forgot to participate in it.
As wedding season continues to encompass a longer span of time each year, maybe it’s time to reevaluate just what we want to give that time to.
*Names have been changed to protect privacy
The writer is a journalist and the founder of Perspective Magazine. She tweets @anmolirfan22
Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2023
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