Date: Wednesday, November 23rd, 2016.
Dodging the census
A national census every ten years is a primary planning tool in virtually every developed nation as well as a majority of developing states. In a world where demographics are shifting, sometimes rapidly, a census is essential if governments are to respond appropriately to emerging trends — but not in Pakistan. Successive governments have all managed to kick census-taking into the long grass and the incumbent government is no different. The reasons — and there are many — are clear enough. The delimitation of boundaries especially in urban areas where the demographics as well as the ethnic composition have changed dramatically since the last census is perhaps the largest political hot potato. Sindh and Balochistan in particular have seen significant changes, and some of the migrations from rural to urban in Punjab have changed the shape of politics in areas where for generations the demographic was essentially static.
For the timorous politicians of Pakistan — and the affliction crosses party boundaries — the fear is that their vote banks are going to be changed or threatened by boundary changes and a re-imaging of the demographic nationally. As Pakistan develops — and it is developing despite what the naysayers would have us believe — then it is inevitably changing. That reality cannot be denied forever yet it is that denial that this government perpetuates by eternally delaying the census. The all-purpose excuse for this is that there can be no census without the support of the army and the army is just too busy with security commitments and the protection of our borders to release sufficient personnel to support a census-taking.
Whilst it is understood that the support of the military is essential it is not beyond the current planning capacity of both the military and civil powers to organise a census. The exercise is time-limited and the military can go back to their duties elsewhere once it is completed. The government is once again to consult the Council for Common Interest, another foot-dragging exercise, and the census is no more likely to happen in March 2017 than it ever was. Denial of uncomfortable realities has become the hallmark of bad governance.
Good ideas
The IDEAS 2016 four-day defence exhibition has brought chaos to the already appalling traffic problems that Karachi experiences daily, but the other side of the coin is that once again Pakistan is able to showcase an area of production that is vibrant, expanding and profitable. The PM and the outgoing army chief General Raheel Sharif inaugurated the exhibition on the morning of Tuesday 22nd November. The exhibition has drawn delegates from around the world and it is not just promoting local wares. Pakistan has a significant export market in this sector, and the new generation of drones developed locally exemplifies this. It has a 15-hour loiter time and has a wide civilian as well as military application.
From small beginnings the IDEAS event has grown into an arms and non-military hardware exhibition of regional as well as an expanding global importance. There are 216 foreign exhibitors at this years’ event, comprising 90 delegations from 34 countries. They do not come to Pakistan as a favour to the government they come to display and sell their goods. They come with heavyweight members — defence ministers, chiefs of army staffs, secretary level bureaucrats and other senior figures — who are also not here for the good of their health but to network among themselves and exchange ideas and grease the wheels of international trade and diplomacy.
It is a mistake to view such events as merely an arms bazaar. That it undeniably is, but it is also an opportunity for high-level informal diplomacy to be conducted in an atmosphere more relaxed and open than the ‘usual channels.’ It is also an opportunity to market Brand Pakistan in the broadest sense. Pakistan makes millions in foreign-exchange sales of goods that would not sell internationally were they not of a quality to satisfy the buyers and end-users. The IDEAS event should be both benchmark and template and grow year on year. Success stories are rare enough, and we should capitalise on those that come our way — bigger and better next year, please.
Deportations and Pakistan
Almost a quarter of a million people of Pakistan origin have been deported from a range of countries over the last three years. Most of the deportations have been from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but with significant numbers from Iran, Oman, Greece and the UK. The majority of those from countries in the Arabian Peninsula were there looking for or engaged in, work. Those deported from Iran were described as ‘in transit’ to Greece and reportedly en-route for preference to the UK. The source of the figures is a report by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) entitled ‘Labour migration from Pakistan: 2015 Status Report and it is a bleak picture. Almost a quarter-million people have made or attempted to make improperly documented journeys out of Pakistan, many, perhaps the majority, seeking work. The trend appears to be upwards and there are suggestions that there has been an increase in trafficking and the smuggling of migrants.
Improperly documented travel and the crossing of borders illegally is a growing problem globally. For Pakistan this feeds through to tightened visa requirements and ever-closer inspection of people travelling from Pakistan elsewhere. For people fleeing Syria the reasons for wanting to leave are clear enough, but less so for those wanting to leave Pakistan beyond a lack of work that pays enough to meet their needs.
Herein lies the story that the deportation figures do not tell. The security situation is improving and there is no all-out war being fought within our borders. A small number of those leaving may claim to be doing so as persecuted members of minorities, but they are few. Most are leaving because they cannot get the jobs they need or the jobs that they can get are paid so poorly as to offer little or no incentive to stay. They are often poor and will go into crippling debt to escape a country where they see no future for themselves. Theirs is the untold tragedy and addressing their need the challenge for this and future governments.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 23rd, 2016.