Age of unreason

THE realisation is dawning slowly and inexorably: the horror that was Dec 16, 2014 was no turning point. The curtain has not been brought down on extremist elements; not only do they remain free to propagate hatred and intolerance, those in their cross hairs still have no recourse but to fend for themselves. According to a report in this paper, senior educationist and member of the government-appointed advisory committee for curriculum and textbook reform, Dr Bernadette L. Dean, has had to flee Pakistan after a hate campaign was unleashed against her by an unnamed political party. She was accused by those against her work of being “an enemy of Islam” and “a foreigner woman who has single-handedly made changes to the curriculum and textbooks that made them secular”. The campaign against Dr Dean is only the latest in a series of attacks against educationists in the country. Less than a month ago, Debra Lobo, an American national and professor at a medical college, was attacked and seriously injured in Karachi. Even more recently, a Karachi University professor, Dr Wahidur Rahman, was gunned down in his car.

In a time of unreason — for what is extremism but unreason? — clichés are handy instruments for religious zealots to exploit. Dr Dean’s stellar credentials and long years of service to her country, as former principal of two leading colleges in Pakistan, professor at Aga Khan University, and presently director of the VM Institute for Education, offered her no defence. That she was part of a committee with whose other members she had co-authored the revised textbooks that were reviewed multiple times before being approved, was of no consequence. Nor was the fact that the Islamiat sections were authored only by Muslims, considered a valid argument. Dr Dean’s very faith rendered her a ‘foreigner’, her every action suspect. In a country of unfettered extremism, every attempt to stem the slide into obscurantism is met with resistance, every voice raised in defence of moderation, plurality and intellectual curiosity is silenced, often at the point of a gun. Parween Rahman, Rashid Rehman, Sabeen Mahmud — these are but a few among the many voices of reason that we could not afford to lose.

Instead of protecting those that are Pakistan’s best hope of clawing back the space ceded to right-wing forces, the state remains shamelessly in retreat. Why has action not been taken against the quarters threatening violence against Dr Dean? Why have they been allowed to put up banners with words that are an incitement to violence? Then again, this is the same country where banned organisations have been taking out processions even after Dec 16 and threatening law-abiding citizens. Cosmetic measures, even at this point where nothing less than a single-minded cleaning of the Augean stables is required, will take us even further into the abyss.

By-poll bar on MPs

THE code of conduct for by-elections has always been a contentious subject. The usual complaint is that the government’s side uses its position to influence the polls. The government is often accused of exploiting the official machinery at its disposal and announcing development schemes on the eve of the contest to secure an election or swing it in its favour. The Election Commission of Pakistan, that recently held a few by-polls that were praised for their fairness, is apparently seeking to ensure a level playing field for competitors in three forthcoming by-elections — two in Punjab and one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The ECP has issued a code of conduct that prohibits the announcement of any new development scheme in an area that is to have a by-election after the poll schedule has been announced. That is not at all a bad condition — indeed, the tendency to buy votes with resources at the government-backed candidate’s disposal has to be discouraged. Also the commission bars anyone who holds office in the government from participation in electioneering after the announcement of the poll schedule.

To the list of officials, which includes the prime minister, the chief ministers, ministers and advisers to chief executives at the centre and in the provinces, the ECP has added the name of the president. But it is not this inclusion, of the head of the state and not a member of government, which has raised objections — even though the presence of the president in the list of those barred does reflect the extent and depth of polarisation in the country. As it strives to make the by-polls as free and fair as possible, the ECP has gone on to extend the ban to lawmakers in the national and provincial assemblies. Not surprisingly, that has attracted instant criticism from the opposition, and in all likelihood will generate a heated exchange if not a full-blown controversy. In the current situation, the extended ban is going to hit the PTI and its leader Imran Khan who are considered to be the main rivals of the PML-N in the by-polls. It will be difficult if not impossible to find a precedent for this summary placing of halters around the necks of the lawmakers other than those with ministerial posts. The ECP’s intentions and its mission for a reformed electoral system aside, it seems to have overshot the mark in this instance.

SRO withdrawal

THE finance minister has announced that the power of the Federal Board of Revenue to issue exemptions for specific parties from various types of taxes is being withdrawn. This power was exercised via an instrument known as the Statutory Regulatory Order and to date so many SROs had been issued by the FBR that people had lost count. Last year alone, the total tax lost due to exemptions was estimated by the finance ministry to be Rs477bn, with SROs accounting for more than Rs380bn of this amount. This is a staggering number and it is good that the government has finally mustered up the courage to roll back these exemptions. It begins with withdrawing the power to grant SROs from the FBR, thereby closing off the discretionary decision-making that had devolved enormous power to the tax bureaucracy. The next step will be to roll back the hundreds of SROs that have already been issued, which is when the revenue impact of the exercise will begin to be felt and the distortions introduced into the tax code begin to be eliminated.

This is a step that has been urged upon the government for almost three decades now, dating back to at least the National Taxation Reform Commission of 1985 if not earlier. The fact that it is now going to be implemented — first via a presidential ordinance in the days to come, then written into law via the finance bill — indicates the government might be getting serious about tackling the structural bottlenecks that have hampered the revenue effort for so long now. If the government can undertake this reform measure in earnest, and make a strong effort to pass legislation for State Bank autonomy as well as ramp up its attempts at broadening the tax net, it will be able to show the sceptics that it is serious about undertaking difficult structural reforms. The latter are the real measure of progress. There should be no backpedalling on this promise any longer.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2015
http://www.dawn.com/newspaper/editorial