SBP report card
THE State Bank’s latest report on the health of the economy glitters on the outside, but the caveats buried inside tell the story. The press release begins by talking about “a visible improvement in the country’s macroeconomic environment”, but in the detailed report the caveats are enough to take the shine off this assessment. Inflation may indeed have moderated, the budget deficit has certainly narrowed, and reserves have also risen. But a deeper look shows there’s little room for celebration. The same day as the report was released, export data showed a drop of 4.9pc from last year, making this the worst year since 2012. Much of the decline appears to be the result of slow demand for Pakistan’s low-valueadded exports from China and Bangladesh, as well as growing competition from Indian basmati rice in UAE markets. The report points out that “it has become critical to design an industrial policy that clearly spells out the country’s strategic objectives”. Comfort in the real sector, evidenced by rising foreign exchange reserves, is largely temporary and the State Bank cautions that “the burden of external debt servicing is increasing” because much of the reserve accumulation has been via debt.
On the fiscal side too, after noting a narrowing of the deficit, the report notes “low growth in tax revenues and high share of non-discretionary spending” as key drags in the fiscal framework. The increase in direct taxes was large — 17.2pc — but much of it came from withholding taxes and not from a broadening of the tax base. In expenditures, the bulk of the increase came from development spending, both provincial and federal, which is a good sign. Overall growth was heavily driven by construction and automobiles, hardly bellwether industries. The State Bank feels far more comfortable criticising the performance of the provincial governments than the centre. Except for Sindh, much vilified for many other failures, the revenue effort mounted by the provinces was unimpressive, which “is a source of concern for overall resource mobilisation in the country”. Overall, the State Bank has tried its best to put a smile on an oddly shaped economic situation, marked by high levels of consumption and speculation and low levels of investment and output growth. Nevertheless, a closer reading of the report vindicates the sceptics by laying out the weak foundations upon which the government’s claims of having turned the economy around are built.
Intimidatory tactics
In extraordinary times will inevitably come extraordinary measures — but the costs are piling up and perhaps now unacceptably from a civil rights perspective. That an ex-minister belonging to the MQM, Rauf Siddiqui, has to approach the Sindh High Court to obtain protective bail after the police booked him under anti-terrorism laws for listening to a speech by his party leader Altaf Hussain is mind-boggling.
So too are the arrests of senior MQM leaders for allegedly facilitating and arranging the broadcast of Mr Hussain’s recent speech in which he lambasted the military leadership. Surely, inadvisable as Mr Hussain’s tirade may have been, there is no justification for arresting and intimidating MQM leaders for having simply listened to or arranged a political speech by the leader of their party. The actions are being explained away on the grounds that what Mr Hussain said amounts to hate speech and an incitement to violence. But this is patently false.
Consider the extraordinary contrast between the repression of the MQM and the space once again being afforded to a banned group like the ASWJ, which is no stranger to hate speech and that yesterday held public rallies rather incredibly in defence of the military. It is truly alarming that the law-enforcement and criminal justice systems are being used to shut down vocal dissent by a mainstream political party, howsoever controversial its actions, while banned militant groups are being allowed to preach in favour of the state and military. Could there be a worse indictment of all that is wrong with the state’s approach to fighting crime and terrorism in Karachi and beyond? To be sure, Altaf Hussain is only attacking the military leadership because his own party is under siege by the security apparatus. It was only recently that his party still seemed to regard the military as a panacea and urged it to intervene in national politics. Still, while there may be objections to the tone and tenor and some of the impolitic language used, what Mr Hussain has said now on several occasions against the military is no different to what politicians routinely say about each other or other institutions of the state, particularly the bureaucracy.
It is troubling that such a blatant double standard is being enforced, one for what can be said about any political leader and most state institutions and another for what can be said about the military. Yet, the pressure on the MQM at least is not about to abate — the extension of the Rangers’ mandate in the province for a year suggests the PPP government in Sindh has also been convinced of the need to continue the Karachi operation. That a wide-ranging operation is needed in the province cannot be disputed. That it should focus on crime and terrorism, including atrocities committed by MQM militants, and be mindful of civil liberties is very clear too.
Violence against journalists
A JOURNALIST’S life in Pakistan is often a perilous one, and never more so than when those in the profession work in small towns or remote areas. On Wednesday, a large number of media-persons held a six-hour sit-in on the Indus Highway to protest against an attack on four journalists in Dadu district and the police’s inaction in apprehending the culprits.
The victims were allegedly abducted and detained by a feudal lord and his henchmen and subjected to such a brutal assault that they were left with grievous injuries; they were also paraded in their hometown of Johi so as to publicly shame them. The local influential, whose family is well-represented in the provincial assembly, was apparently enraged when he found the journalists reporting on illegal tree felling in the area.
District correspondents have to contend with multidimensional problems in places where the feudal setup, often reinforced by powerful political connections and a pliant, corrupt police, is unwilling to countenance any challenge to its clout and authority. Moreover, unless they work for one of the larger media groups, outstation reporters are often poorly paid and sometimes not paid at all — which leads to problems of ethics — and are thus easily disowned by their parent organisations when they run afoul of local pressure groups.
However, in a country deemed one of the world’s most dangerous for journalists, especially since militant groups began to proliferate here, Balochistan presents the most high-risk scenario of all. More than 30 journalists have been killed over the last five years in the province, where all manner of threats menace them: feuding tribals, religious extremists, insurgent groups and security forces, all of whom try to use the media to further their own agendas and sometimes, silence its practitioners. In all these years, the murder of only one Pakistani journalist — Wali Khan Babar — has been successfully prosecuted.
In all these years, the murder of only one Pakistani journalist — Wali Khan Babar — has been successfully prosecuted. Only a media that stops pandering to various interest groups and transcends its internal divisions can effectively counter this outrageous impunity.
Published in Dawn, July 18th, 2015
http://www.dawn.com/newspaper/editorial