Dubai properties

A VERY valid question is circulating inside the National Assembly, thanks to the efforts of Asad Umar of the PTI: can the government tell us how much money has been sent abroad from Pakistan for the purpose of buying property in Dubai or in the rest of the United Arab Emirates in the recent past? Unfortunately, in this country, the whole scheme of sending and receiving foreign exchange is rigged in such a way as to make it impossible to find an answer. There is a good reason why this is important. For a number of years now, we have been hearing about billions of dollars worth of investment in Dubai real estate by Pakistanis. The latest release of data may show a large decline, but the amount is still just below $1bn in the year 2016, down from $2.1bn in the preceding year. In total, the data from the Dubai Land Department indicates that $7.73bn have been invested by Pakistanis in Dubai real estate since 2013.

There are grounds to be careful with this data though. First of all, it includes investments by those non-resident Pakistanis who are living and earning abroad. Second, it includes perfectly legitimate investments, not necessarily made from so-called black money or other ill-gotten proceeds. It would be a mistake to assume that the full reported amount of $7.73bn necessarily presents a problem. But in order to know the extent of the challenge these investments may pose, we need a simple reporting template that can tell us how much has been sent from here.

And that is where the problem comes in. The State Bank governor recently told a National Assembly standing committee that his institution has not granted any permission for outward remittances for investment in Dubai real estate. According to the Foreign Exchange Manual, any investment made abroad that exceeds $5m requires cabinet approval, and any investment made abroad in amounts less than that, through the interbank market, requires State Bank approval. But the way the system is set up, one can simply send an outward remittance without declaring that it is for investment purposes, and under the prevailing law no questions can be asked. The only way this could come to the attention of the state is if the person involved decides to declare the assets acquired in his or her wealth declaration at home, in order to keep the money white. For those who have no intention of ever declaring their assets, the hawala system provides an easy route to send the money with no questions asked. It is a marvel to note that our foreign exchange scheme is set up in a way that we can never even know the amount that is going from the country into real-estate investments abroad, let alone do anything to regulate or tax the enterprise.

Middle East questions

AS the international order experiences turbulence, much of it caused by the rise of Donald Trump, there are valid questions about what direction the crises in the Middle East will take. Primarily, many in the region and its surroundings are concerned about what the final status of the multi-front battles being waged against the militant Islamic State group, and similar extremists, will be. Will regional powers — assisted by the larger global community — manage to roll back this band of murderous zealots? Or will the vicious cycle of violence continue? At this point, it is difficult to say. On one end, in Iraq, that country’s armed forces have been locked in a grinding battle of attrition with IS in the key city of Mosul. The Iraqis are advancing, but very slowly. The latest reports indicate that Baghdad’s troops have entered western Mosul. However, many experts are of the view that the complete liberation of Mosul will take weeks, if not months. The difficulty of the campaign can be gauged by the fact that while the offensive was launched in October last year, Iraqi advances have been painstakingly slow. Thousands of civilians are also at risk, as IS resorts to desperate measures to hold on to the ancient city. The anti-IS campaign in Syria, on the other hand, has also produced mixed results. While the frequency of clashes between Bashar al-Assad’s government and rebels — jihadi and non-jihadi — has come down, the fact that militants are far from subdued was reiterated with the devastating bombing near the town of Al Bab on Friday; over 50 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the atrocity, believed to have been carried out by IS.

For a successful offensive against the extremists, the government and the rebels in Syria must reach a political compromise. Peace talks are under way currently in Geneva, but even senior UN officials have warned not to expect any ‘miracles’ from the parleys. While resolving the Syrian quagmire, pacifying Iraq and defeating IS are all incredibly difficult but not impossible propositions, there are many ‘what ifs’ that may prove to complicate the situation even further. These include any ratcheting up of tensions with Iran by the right-wing hawks in Washington, as well as the possible recognition of occupied Jerusalem as Israel’s capital by the Americans. Peace in the Middle East needs a sagacious vision by regional countries as well as external players.

Nigar Ahmed

THE 1980s threw up some of the most committed, unwavering civil society personalities in Pakistan, individuals who would find themselves fighting one of this country’s toughest battles to secure fundamental rights. There were lawyers who pressed for justice and non-discrimination in society. There were journalists who took grave risks to keep the flag of freedom flying. There were other rights campaigners — teachers, other professionals, political activists — who marched ahead with their heads held high and who refused to bow to the oppressive regime of Gen Ziaul Haq. If anything, adversity added to their resolve and to the definitive tone of their brave slogans. Amongst them was Nigar Ahmed, who died in Lahore on Friday. She stood out in many ways — yet she blended so well with those pursuing just objectives that it was unthinkable to have the rights’ fight without her participation.

Her efforts reached their peak when Gen Zia was at the height of his powers. Firm and blessed with a temperament and training that frustrated the most intimidating of individuals on the other side, Nigar Ahmed was amongst the founders of the Women’s Action Forum — a platform that provided the much-needed stimulus to the opposition against the military dictator when political parties and others were finding it tough to make a loud enough impact. WAF, a source of some of the most celebrated, proudest stories of resistance from the time, came in 1981. In 1986, Nigar Ahmed joined hands with the famous lawyer and rights crusader Shehla Zia to set up the Aurat Foundation. Over the next three decades, she and her organisation would have a strong role in the furthering of women’s rights and generally in all kinds of human rights campaigns. The observations that have followed her departure at the age of 72 recall how she led with a resolve that surprised just as it inspired and set souls free. Nigar Ahmed is no more but there is a lot to learn from her shining example.

Source: Editorials
Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2017

Fighting militancy together

There have been many attempts before and, likely, the road ahead will be arduous, but Pakistan and Afghanistan must engage and continue to seek cooperative solutions.

Sensibly, the Pakistani political and military leadership appears to acknowledge the common threat of terrorism that the two countries face and has, in the wake of the recent terror wave here, redoubled its efforts to seek the Afghan government’s assistance.

The disclosure by foreign affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz that a joint mechanism may be announced soon to address the concerns that Pakistan and Afghanistan have regarding militant sanctuaries and cross-border terrorism is a welcome attempt to move past debilitating blame games and focus on a problem that could have significant regional peace dividends.

Complex as the challenges are, there are at least two things that need to be reiterated. First, for all of the Afghan government’s long-standing concerns, some of which are undeniably legitimate, the perception that Afghanistan has become willing to inflict punishment on Pakistan in order to elicit a change in policy has become a dangerously destabilising factor. Moreover, it is self-defeating.


The banned TTP and allied Pakistani militants who have found sanctuary in eastern Afghanistan are a threat to that country too. Unlike the Afghan Taliban, who have consistently clung to a nationalist agenda, the TTP and IS are fundamentally wedded to a pan-Islamist worldview. Their agenda, especially that of IS, does not stop at destabilising Pakistan but extends to conquering Afghanistan too.

Wrongheaded as some of the strategic choices by this country have been, Kabul’s trying to build pressure on Pakistan by allowing anti-Pakistan militancy to proliferate on Afghan soil will not only destroy bilateral ties but also engulf Afghanistan. The Afghan state’s frustration with Pakistan should not put the two countries on a path towards collective strategic suicide.

For Pakistan, the need is to not succumb to knee-jerk reactions that damage the relationship with the Afghan people. Targeting Afghan nationals in counterterrorism sweeps; closing border crossings used by peaceful Afghans; attempting to evict Afghan refugees with decades-old ties to this country — Pakistani authorities must not take steps that further alienate the Afghan people.

There has been little to no evidence shared with the public so far that the hubs of Afghan populations in Pakistani cities and towns are hubs of terrorism. Indeed, most Afghan communities house a hardworking population that contributes to the economy and helps sustain the historically close ties with Afghanistan.

Terrorism, it should be obvious, thrives in environments of fear and repression. Pakistan must defend itself and has a right to determine its strategic priorities. But those priorities must be rooted in an understanding of national security that is sensible, humane and of benefit to the region.

Gas politics

SINCE 2011, there has been a moratorium in place for new gas connections because of the dwindling supplies of domestic gas. Every government comes under intense pressure to grant more gas connections in the constituencies of important political personalities since these connections carry great political pay-offs and are viewed as signature emblems of success by constituents. But since domestic gas has been declining rapidly and has to be supplemented by imported LNG, which is multiple times more expensive, this important political promise has become increasingly more difficult for politicians to deliver on. Now we hear, via a case being heard in the Islamabad High Court, that 55 political personalities, including senior ministers in the government, have been granted a relaxation in this moratorium for connections to their constituencies. There is no other way to view this other than through the lens of patronage politics.

The politics of patronage where natural gas is concerned is not new, and part of the reason why there was a moratorium to begin with was to put an end to the whole game. Industry and residential consumers have competed ferociously with each other for access to piped domestic gas, and under the previous rulers, it was something of a norm for the government to attach demands of loyalty in exchange for granting such requests. But natural gas is far too important a resource to play politics with. Almost half our primary fuel needs are met with natural gas, and if access to this precious resource is going to be decided arbitrarily by the prime minister, it opens the door not only to large-scale corruption, but also massive misallocation of the precious fuel. Instead of discretionary approvals for new connections, the government ought to be more focused on tightening the legal regime to determine access that is above politics, and more importantly, price reform to encourage the judicious use of this resource. The manner in which these 55 connections have been granted has been below the radar of the media and courts, which raises further concerns about transparency. Now that the matter has been exposed, perhaps the government should also be asked about its plans to reform the gas sector to ensure continued provision of the vital resource without burdening the state with distortionary subsidies and the grounds upon which these particular requests were granted a relaxation from the moratorium.

Overloaded PIA

IF there is one thing the national carrier could make a career of, it is ‘how not to do it’. Efficiency, courteousness, reliability and in-flight care all tend to be of standards that are the opposite of what passengers have a right to expect. Even so, PIA continues to plumb new depths of absurdities. It recently emerged that last month, a Boeing 777 aircraft flying from Karachi to Madina was overbooked in violation of all rules, safety standards, and even basic sense. Seven passengers had to travel whilst standing. Excepting the cockpit, the aircraft had a seating capacity of 409; instead, it carried 416 persons. Amazingly, there is room in this story to get more bizarre. The extra passengers carried handwritten boarding passes; the senior purser claims that she told the pilot about the situation but that he told her to ‘adjust’; the pilot maintains that he only found out after the plane was in the air — and he did not return to offload, as protocol required, because that would not have been in the airline’s interest.

And yet, it could be said that it is all of a piece as far as PIA is concerned. This is the airline, after all, that not too long ago allowed the sacrifice of a black goat on the tarmac, at the steps of its aircraft, in a bid to ward off evil spirits. Meanwhile, given the situation prevailing on PK-743 last month, as one Twitter user mulled, the airline might as well consider the merits of jettisoning the meal carts in favour of stalls selling paan. Or, perhaps, offer special discounts for passengers willing to travel without a seat, thus formalising the flouting of rules and safety requirements. Customers put their lives in the airline’s hands; if PIA is blissfully unconcerned about its responsibilities, as would appear to be the case, there should be no confusion about it. Certainly, it has not much to lose in terms of its reputation.

Source: Editorials
Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2017

__________________
The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion !

Data on glaciers

FOR a number of years now, an interesting thesis has suggested that there is a phenomenon known as the ‘Karakoram anomaly’. In a nutshell, the thesis suggests that where glaciers in the eastern Himalayan range, in Nepal and Tibet, are known to be retreating due to the impact of climate change, in the western reaches of the range and the Karakoram there is evidence that many of them are in fact surging. Very little scientific measurements have been made with regard to the glaciers of Pakistan’s northern areas, comprising three of the world’s largest mountain ranges — the Himalayas, the Karakoram and the Hindu Kush. The result is that we are left to conjecture about the actual impact and dynamics of global warming in this region. From some preliminary observations made by one glaciologist by the name of Ken Hewitt, we understand that these ranges may be going through a process of change that is different from what is happening to their counterparts in the eastern Himalayas.

This is an oddity of staggering proportions, considering that the glaciers and snowfall of the northern areas are almost entirely the source of our water supply that powers the turbines in our dams and irrigates our land. Without the water that flows in such abundance from these mighty ranges every year, Pakistan would be an arid desert. With so much at stake, and with such an interesting thesis as the Karakoram anomaly floating around, one would think that far more attention would be paid to the dynamics of global warming in the western Himalayas than is presently the case. But as it turns out, we remain woefully blind to what may be in store for us in the coming decades as the pace of global warming picks up.

A small group of dedicated individuals is making some effort to change that. Under the Pakistan Integrated Mountain Conservancy Programme, they have just finished the first winter trek of two of the longest glaciers in the range, in an attempt to gather data that would enable us to know how the glaciers are being impacted by global warming. Their efforts are welcome, but some key inadequacies remain. For one, their data gathering for the moment is restricted to photographs and GPS coordinates of selected points. For another, their research is on the Braldu glacier, and a small set of glaciers around the Shimshal area. The thesis of the Karakoram anomaly, however, rests in large part on observations of the Panmah glacier and its tributaries. The efforts of these dedicated individuals are to be applauded, but far more is going to be required before we can begin to say that the Karakoram anomaly exists, and whether or not it is representative of what is happening in the rest of the range at elevations above 3,000m. For that, the state needs to take the task more seriously.

Nationalist sentiment

WHEN a trust deficit spans decades, it becomes extremely difficult to bridge. While the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has aroused misgivings in Gilgit-Baltistan as well as all the provinces with smaller populations than Punjab that they will be shortchanged at the expense of the latter, Balochistan’s apprehensions are the deepest. Their fears have become a lightning rod for nationalists in the opposition as well as separatist groups. Akhtar Mengal, president of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal, reiterated the sentiment at a well-attended rally in Kharan on Sunday, saying that he saw no benefit accruing to the province from the implementation of CPEC projects. The much-vaunted “game changer for the region”, he alleged, would only benefit Punjab where related development projects have already been launched while the Baloch had for 70 years been deprived of even basic facilities.

While detractors would likely dismiss this view by saying that nationalists would by default adopt such a stance in order to stay relevant, that would betray a gross misreading of the situation and the sentiments of the Baloch — something that can be found in abundance in this country. Of the 2,600km that constitute CPEC’s western alignment, 1,300km runs through Balochistan, not to mention the fact that the deepwater port of Gwadar which lies on its shores is the centrepiece of the project. Yet the province is a bystander in the planning and rollout of CPEC within its boundaries. Certainly, Sindh and KP, and GB in particular, have complained of the same to some extent from time to time. However, in Balochistan, the sidelining of the people’s ‘voice’ takes on another dimension altogether. For many Baloch, it is the perpetuation of their grievances against the centre and their resentment that real control over their resources has long been exerted by the establishment rather than the province itself — even after the NFC award. The problem thus is a political one, not a socioeconomic one alone that will be resolved by giving some CPEC-related job opportunities to the people. The government must engage with nationalist organisations like BNP-M, even if it does not agree with their views, and consider their input with regard to CPEC if this mega infrastructure project is indeed to be a harbinger of prosperity. It would also be sound long-term strategy: after all, despite the attendant risks from separatist elements, the party has chosen to remain within the electoral mainstream. For that, and for many more reasons, it should be heard.

AJK CJ’s directive

IN his first address to officials of the Azad Kashmir Supreme Court, the new AJK Chief Justice Chaudhry Mohammed Ibrahim Zia, outlined, among other things, intentions that may have left many surprised. The chief justice spoke against prejudices — personal, regional, ethnic, etc — and against slackness, negligence and dereliction of duty. But what attracted most attention was his directive to the court staff: under him, their annual salary increments would be based on how regularly they offer their prayers. This may have reminded his audience of the times when the authorities sought to establish nizam-i-salaat by executive order; in fact, some sections of society observed that matters of faith are best left to an individual and his or her Maker, and that increments should not be linked to piety.

There is always an urge among the experienced to guide, preach and reform. And indeed, there are lessons to be learnt from the life of veterans in all fields. The point of the debate is not whether any experienced, successful and respectable personality, who is in a position to influence society, should or should not try to make a difference. Instead, it is a sound principle that he or she lead by example, instead of allowing the impact of personal beliefs to be felt through official posts. Where social, and not official, allegiance is desired from subordinates, the best and most durable impact is one which is made without the use of formal authority. Take the law that seeks to restrict spending on wedding feasts in Punjab. It has the province’s chief minister relying on governmental force and authority to bring about social change. This is the easier way. He could have, instead, set an example of austerity through personal practice and trusted the public to follow suit. The same is true for those who would like their staff to be pious, visibly and within. Such people in high posts should seek strength in the own abilities to create a compelling enough personal example.

Source: Editorials
Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2017

__________________
The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion !

PSL decision

Lahore has suffered, Sehwan has suffered, indeed, all of Pakistan has been affected. The recent spate of terrorism in the country has triggered a wave of concern and anxiety that is genuine and legitimate; the state has stumbled in its responsibility to protect the public.

A better coordinated, more effective response by the state is needed against terrorism — and perhaps a clear signal too that state and society will not succumb to the threat of militancy. Controversial, then, as it may be, the decision to hold the final of the Pakistan Super League on March 5 is the right message at the right moment.

Certainly, the government and Pakistan Cricket Board’s attempt to politically cash in on the event is not to be welcomed. The secrecy in which, and seemingly political reason for, the decision to hold the final in Lahore are a textbook case of bad decision-making. But poor optics should not detract from the underlying soundness of the reasons to hold the PSL final in Pakistan.

First, eight years since international cricket abandoned this country, there have been undeniable gains in the fight against militancy and the state’s ability to secure events and arenas has improved. From Karachi to Islamabad, the country has hosted international leaders, summits and guests without incident over the past couple of years.

A cricket final would undoubtedly pose an elevated risk; but at the same time, the collective might of the state is focused on providing an incident-free sporting spectacle. Moreover, a successfully concluded PSL final could open up the space for other cultural and sporting events to resume.

That Pakistan is a nation at war should not be forgotten. Equally, the incremental gains in that war should not be ignored. It is time to repose a degree of trust in the state’s organisational capacity.

Second, and equally crucially, the government must not regard the imminent return of cricket to Pakistan as its own victory. Every effort must be made to make the occasion as apolitical and all-encompassing as possible.

That PTI supremo Imran Khan has already spoken out against a final in Lahore should be regarded as his legitimate right to political dissent. The PCB/PSL management may have their political differences with Mr Khan, as may the PML-N governments in Punjab and at the centre, but if there has ever been an occasion to transcend politics and, however briefly, come together as a nation, this is it.

Political leaders, cultural ambassadors, ordinary citizens and peaceable and prosperity-seeking segments of society should make the PSL final a festival of all that is inclusive and progressive in Pakistan. A foreign contingent of players would be an added endorsement of Pakistan striving to be normal.

There is no room for complacency, but cricket must be welcomed home again.

Ethnic profiling

HISTORY is witness to this nation’s failure in maintaining harmony between the various ethnic groups that inhabit its boundaries. The cataclysmic events of 1971 and the repeated insurgencies in Balochistan offer ample evidence of that. However, the last few weeks have illustrated how our leadership remains appallingly short-sighted on this score. In the aftermath of the recent bombings in Lahore and Sehwan, the Punjab government instructed law-enforcement agencies to focus on areas with a majority of Pakhtuns and Fata-origin people while carrying out raids to apprehend terrorists and their facilitators. Despite the resulting uproar from several political parties, they pressed blithely ahead. Informal orders from administrations in some districts told citizens to keep an eye on individuals belonging to the aforementioned areas. Rawalpindi police began conducting surveillance of people from the tribal areas living within the Pindi division. Even more disturbingly, a proposal to contain them within a certain place and issue them chip-based identity cards is reportedly under consideration. Legislators in the KP Assembly on Monday gave vent to their anger. Yesterday, in the face of gathering fury, Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said that Pakhtuns “had every right to live in Punjab” and that allegations of their victimisation were attempts to “spread hatred”.

The Punjab government’s move to counter the criticism is belated. Its attempt to twist the facts is execrable, for it alone is responsible for sowing division and hatred based on ethnicity. A number of accounts have begun to emerge of the hardship that such profiling is causing ordinary, innocent Pakhtuns in earning their livelihoods and going about their daily lives, already full of hardship for many due to internal migration and militancy in their native areas. Moreover, the smaller provinces have long chafed against what they see as Punjab’s sense of entitlement, and the ‘anti-Pakhtun’ rhetoric only reinforces such damaging perceptions. At the same time, reactions like that of ANP leader Asfandyar Wali Khan, who has threatened forcible eviction of Punjabis from KP, only serve to fuel the fire and are unbecoming of a leader of his stature. Pakistanis must keep in mind that fear and mistrust of each other based on ethnicity or faith can only result in discord and conflict. After all, they are quick to condemn such profiling when they are at the receiving end in other, particularly non-Muslim, countries. What holds good in that situation also holds true in the present one.

Bilawal’s puzzling stance

THE last thing that PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would want is the reputation of a politician who first announces his intentions and then does not carry them out. Unfortunately, that is just the sort of image he is acquiring. Not too long ago, he presented a four-point agenda which was meant to lead to serious consequences for the government if it did not address the PPP’s concerns. Where are those four points now? Mr Bhutto Zardari has moved on to expressing other vows — and forgetting about them too. He joined his father Asif Ali Zardari in making a ‘most important’ announcement on the occasion of his mother’s death anniversary last December. Father and son declared themselves as would-be candidates in by-elections for two National Assembly seats in Sindh which their party members were, of course, ready to vacate for them. But if it appeared then that the election was only a matter of time, this is not how it turned out to be. Mr Bhutto Zardari now explains he is actually waiting for the court ruling on the Panama case to decide if and when he wants to become a parliamentarian.

Is he serious? Tying it up with Panama now does not make sense — the Panama case was still going on when the original announcement about the intentions of the two gentlemen to enter parliament via by-polls was made two months ago. Had they not thought of the ‘linkage’ then? Moreover, the PPP chairman’s remarks regarding the Panama decision highlight another significant point: party leaders may be guilty of thinking too much about what others should be doing instead of doing something on their own. And to top it all, Mr Bhutto Zardari has recalled that there have never been any court verdicts against the Sharifs — this was a reference to a case in which he was not only not a complainant but from which his party chose to maintain a safe distance. All this is just a little difficult to fathom now.

Source: Editorials
Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2017

__________________
The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion !

Accountability and the PPP

IT was dramatic and confusion-ridden in a way that harkened back to a previous era of tumultuous politics. The return of Sharjeel Memon, former Sindh information minister and close ally of Asif Zardari, from self-imposed exile and his brief detention by the National Accountability Bureau have sparked a war of words between the Sindh government and the federal accountability regime of the PML-N government at the centre. That the accountability process needs an overhaul is patently obvious and accepted by all sides, including the political class. NAB’s operations are neither transparent nor entirely plausible. Indeed, on many an occasion, including in the incident with Mr Memon, there is a sense that NAB is more interested in burnishing its public-relations credentials than strictly following the law. To be sure, the sudden return of Mr Memon smacks of backroom manoeuvring and deal-making by the PPP. Indeed, a link between the PPP’s eventual willingness to help revive military courts and the hectic efforts to rehabilitate the inner circle of former president Zardari cannot be ruled out.
Whatever the flaws with the NAB regime and the mysterious circumstances in which Mr Memon was detained and released, there is an undeniable lack of interest on the part of both the PPP and the PML-N to address the accountability challenge. Since the latest furore centres on, and has been accentuated by, the PPP, consider the party leadership’s role in fostering a culture of impunity. In the nine years since a return to democracy, there has not been a single PPP leader who has been disciplined by the party itself. This despite being the ruling party for five years, the largest opposition party in parliament for nearly four, and with an unbroken spell leading the government in Sindh. The record in Sindh is particularly damning. While Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah attacks the centre for its interference in Sindh, what steps has his government taken to tackle corruption and graft? It was Mr Shah, after all, who came to power mid-term vowing to clean up governance and address the dismal public perception of the party when it comes to corruption.
As for the PML-N, with the Sharif family caught up in an anti-corruption probe by no less than the Supreme Court itself, the party appears unwilling to address clean governance as anything other than a matter of politics. Consider the amount of time and energy the PML-N has expended in countering the PTI over the past year. Had even a fraction of that time and effort been channelled into legislative reforms and strengthening of administrative oversight and accountability, the government could have by now overhauled the system to the extent of the first big names being caught and punished. What the PML-N and PPP seem to forget is that democracy is about more than winning the elections.

Linguistic diversity

LANGUAGE is identity, and it is especially important to acknowledge that in a multi-ethnic society such as Pakistan: a failure to do so can have far-reaching consequences. So while it may have taken five years in coming, the KP government’s decision to at last implement the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Promotion of Regional Languages Authority Act, 2012, is a case of better late than never. Starting with the next academic year which commences in April, government primary and secondary schools will begin teaching regional languages as a compulsory subject in the areas where they are spoken. These languages include Pashto, Hindko, Seraiki and Khowar, while Kohistani, which is also among the five officially designated regional languages of the province, will not be part of the curriculum because of a dispute among its speakers over differences in dialect.
The history of this country illustrates how language is seen as a vehicle of political power, or the lack of it. The protests soon after Partition in what was then East Pakistan over the central government’s decision to declare Urdu the national language arguably sowed the seeds for the Bengali nationalist movement. In the early 1970s, Sindh saw language riots between Sindhi and Urdu speakers. In Balochistan today, neither Balochi nor Brahui are taught in government schools — even as an optional subject. It is telling, therefore, that at Turbat University, located in an area where the insurgency is the strongest, far more students opt for Balochi as their major than any other subject. Even aside from the obvious political connotations, to give regional languages — especially those spoken by smaller, less empowered groups — their due is to celebrate and preserve diversity in its most fundamental form. Language is after all the repository of a people’s collective memory, the heritage that makes each ethnic group so unique. The authorities at the federal and provincial levels have been apathetic in their duty on this score. A 2014 parliamentary paper on the subject pointed out that of 72 languages spoken in this country, 10 are either “in trouble” or “nearing extinction”. Meanwhile, as a conference in Peshawar earlier this year pointed out, the speakers of dozens of other languages are also dwindling rapidly. Among these is Hindko, which makes the KP government’s recent move very timely. For the federal government to declare the major regional languages as national languages would be even more appropriate, not to mention far-sighted.

Syrian imbroglio

THE reports emerging from Syria over the past couple of days are worrying, and the faint hope of a negotiated end to this brutal war is fading fast. On Monday, government forces pounded rebel-held parts of Damascus, a day after militants had launched a surprise attack on the Syrian capital. Moreover, the Israeli defence minister made a reckless announcement on Sunday promising to “destroy Syrian air defence systems” after reports had emerged that Israeli jets had struck targets inside Syria. The Syrian government had claimed that it had shot down the Israeli intruder. Last week, nearly 50 people were killed — most of them reportedly civilians — after American warplanes hit a mosque in Aleppo province; the US denied it had hit a mosque and claimed it had targeted Al Qaeda militants instead. All this makes for a grim build-up to the Syrian peace talks, sponsored by the UN, that are due soon in Geneva.
The key problem is that in Syria, there are far too many parties creating problems. The civil war, which has now completed its sixth year, was internationalised when the West, Turkey and the Gulf states saw an opportunity to topple Bashar al-Assad’s regime. On the other hand, Mr Assad’s allies — Iran, Russia and Hezbollah — were not ready to see the government in Damascus fall. In the middle of all this, sectarian extremists gained ground and now threaten the security of the region. Israel — long a force of instability in the Middle East — has also not helped matters with its arrogant rhetoric and irresponsible forays into Syria. Already, hundreds of thousands have been killed in the Syrian war, while millions have been displaced. A once functioning country has been turned into a hollow shell of its former self. It is hard to be optimistic about Syria’s future in such circumstances, but it must be said that regional states — Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia particularly — need to go the extra mile and make greater efforts to resolve the conflict to avoid further destruction and suffering.


Source: Editorials
Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2017

__________________
"wa tu`izzu man tasha'u, wa tudhillu man tasha'u"

Right to know
WILL the newly enacted Sindh Trans*parency and Right to Information Act 2016 be a harbinger of transparency in Sindh? The answer to this question lies in understanding the roles played by the provincial bureaucracy, the Sindh government and civil society groups in the enactment of this law.

As in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Sindh bureaucracy also came up with weak draft legislation in the shape of the Sindh Freedom of Information Bill, 2015 that was only marginally better than the Sindh Freedom of Information Act, 2006 that it sought to repeal.

Instead of containing one clearly and narrowly defined list of exempt information and declaring the rest as public information, the draft bill had separate lists: records that could not be shared at all; those that could be shared; and others that could be shared but with the caveat that certain types of information, if contained in these records, would not be shared. The governor and Sindh Assembly secretariats were out of its purview, and no time limits were placed on the proposed Sindh Information Commission to decide on complaints. Through these and other such lacunae, the bureaucracy wanted to ensure its hold on information-sharing arrangements in the province.
It goes to the Sindh government’s credit that it heeded suggestions by civil society groups and introduced a second draft in the shape of the Sindh Transparency and Right to Information Bill, 2016. Furthermore, it set up a committee consisting of treasury and opposition members in the provincial assembly to further amend the bill in the light of recommendations by civil society groups, journalists and legal experts.

As a result, the law, enacted on March 13, 2017, meets all the standards of effective RTI legislation, such as maximum disclosure, minimal exemptions, obligation for proactive disclosure, process to facilitate access to information, minimum cost for requested information and disclosure taking precedence over exemption.

If the hurdles created by the bureaucracy are any guide, however, there are bound to be challenges in implementation. As the law has come into force with immediate effect, will public information officers (PIOs) be designated in all Sindh public bodies within 45 days to facilitate citizens in accessing information, as required by Section 7 of the law? Will provincial public bodies start taking steps for proactive disclosure of certain categories of information, as required under Section 6?

If the RTI law is to be implemented, the Sindh government will have to take four major steps in the coming months. One, it should instruct the chief secretary to designate PIOs in all public bodies without delay. These officers should be assigned a specific designation indicating that he or she is a public information officer.

Two, it should constitute ‘search’ committees to appoint information commissioners in the Sindh Information Commission in accordance with the eligibility criteria mentioned in Section 12 of the law. The criteria stipulate that the commission would be headed by a chief information commissioner who shall be a retired senior government servant not below the rank of BPS-20. One commissioner would be a person who is an advocate of the Sindh High Court or the Supreme Court, and is qualified to be a judge of the high court. The other commissioner would be a person from the civil society having no less than 15 years’ experience in his profession.

Three, the provincial government should establish the Sindh Information Commission and give it budgetary and administrative autonomy.

Four, after the information commissioners have been appoi*nted, the government should frame service rules for the commission so that it has the requisite staff to carry out its functions.

Once these steps have been taken, it would be reasonable to expect that the information commissioners will be able to carry out their obligations as defined under the law. These include: developing transparency standards for public bodies in Sindh; ensuring proactive disclosure of information by the latter and timely disposal of complaints; developing a schedule of fees; creating mass awareness about the rights of the people under the law; compiling guidelines for and imparting training to PIOs; devising monitoring mechanisms to determine compliance by the public bodies; and publishing annual reports.

The experience of putting in place independent and autonomous information commissions in South Asia to ensure implementation of RTI laws is a mixed one. As the buck has to stop somewhere, there is no better alternative but to entrust an information commission the task of implementing such a law and help citizens exercise their RTI. Once the Sindh Information Commission is established, civil society groups and the media will have to stay vigilant to ensure that the newly enacted law works to the benefit of the people.
Difficult words
1. Harbinger = a person or thing that announces or signals the approach of another. herald, sign, indicator, indication, signal
2. Repeal = cancel, revoke or annul (a law or act of parliament)
3. Caveat = a warning or proviso of specific stipulations, conditions, or limitations
4. Purview = the scope of the influence or concerns of something.
5. Lacunae = an unfilled space; a gap.
6. Heeded = pay attention to; take notice of.
7. Proactive = (adj.) (of a policy or person or action) controlling a situation by causing something to happen rather than waiting to respond to it after it happens
8. Stipulate = demand or specify (a requirement), typically as part of an agreement.
9. Obligations = an act or course of action to which a person is morally or legally bound; a duty or commitment.
10. Imparting = make (information) known.
11. Compliance = the action or fact of complying with a wish or command.
12. Vigilant = keeping careful watch for possible danger or difficulties.
13. Enacted = make (a bill or other proposal) law.

The darkness within

A medieval brutality, a very cancer of the soul, has permeated this society. Not only has it pervaded the hinterland, it has also spread to places where minds are supposed to be enlightened by knowledge and learning.

Each ghastly detail of Mashal Khan’s murder on Thursday illustrates this chilling fact. The 23-year-old student at the Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan was lynched on campus by a mob of fellow students over allegations of blasphemy.

Video footage of the savagery unleashed upon the young man shows an enraged crowd beating his naked body with sticks, kicking and stoning him while raising religious slogans. Another student was also attacked for the same reason and badly injured; his whereabouts are unknown.

But why should we be surprised at this display of bestiality masquerading as virtue? After all, the road to Mashal Khan’s murder is punctuated with many a landmark pointing to where we are headed: eight people, including a child, burned alive in Gojra in 2009 on allegations of blasphemy; governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer, gunned down by his security guard in 2011 for coming to the defence of a blasphemy accused; lawyer Rashid Rehman, shot dead in May 2014 for defending a blasphemy suspect; brick kiln workers Shama and Shahzad, burned alive by a mob in November 2014 on allegations of blasphemy. And this is but a partial list, even in terms of the lives lost.

For the ruin of many a life has played out in the crucible of blasphemy: people driven out of their homes, deprived of their livelihoods, sometimes even languishing in jail for years because few lawyers now have the courage to defend them.

The culpability of the state — particularly some elements of it — in bringing matters to such a pass is undeniable. For even while spewing platitudes in the name of anti-extremism, it has fed the fires of intolerance and unreason, deliberately creating an environment where mere allegations of blasphemy trigger vigilante ‘justice’ and where appeals to moderation are conflated with defending blasphemy itself.

This is a Damocles’ sword that can conveniently be used to silence anyone professing views that question or contradict the state-approved narrative. And if innocents must die in the process, then so be it.

However, while the law should take its course in punishing those guilty of Mashal Khan’s murder, voices of sanity must speak up in the face of such cynical manipulation of religious sentiment.

Imran Khan, whose party heads the KP government, has rightly condemned Mashal Khan’s lynching, vowing to resist “the law of the jungle”. He is, shamefully enough, so far among the few politicians to have taken such an unequivocal stance.

Even most of the electronic media, otherwise so loquacious, has only covered Mashal Khan’s murder in a superficial manner, carefully avoiding the real issues that underpin the tragedy. Until these are debated, and the contradictions in society acknowledged, our descent into a dystopian nightmare will continue.

‘Mother of all bombs’

Nicknamed the ‘mother of all bombs’, could it also have been the mother of all mistakes?

Having vowed to militarily crush the militant Islamic State group, stocked his administration with retired military leaders and seemingly in thrall to the unrivalled US war machine, President Donald Trump has delivered another military spectacle that is high on theatre and low on strategic planning or intent.

The fight against IS along the Pak-Afghan border is important. The group must not be allowed to find a long-term foothold in the region. By all accounts, military operations by the Afghan forces aided by US firepower and a small military presence on the ground has eroded IS’s strength from a high of several thousand fighters to under 1,000.

The Achin district in Nangarhar province, where the devastating bomb was dropped on Thursday, has seen an intense campaign by Afghan and US forces for several weeks, resulting in the first US casualty of the year in Afghanistan recently.

So why was a bomb with political, diplomatic and international repercussions dropped? It has immediately alarmed some sections of the Afghan state and possibly alienated a fresh swathe of the population; what the US president believes is marvellous, many consider terrifying.

As cheering sections of the media and Trump supporters in the US suggest, the Achin bombing is supposedly meant to signal to the wider world that Mr Trump means business. From North Korea to IS in the Middle East, enemies of the US have supposedly been put on notice.

But what does it mean for Afghanistan? Does it presage an announcement of more US troops to Afghanistan, as the generals have demanded and National Security Adviser Gen H.R. McMaster’s trip to the region is scheduled to determine? If so, where does that leave a stalled reconciliation between the Afghan government and the Taliban?

The American bombing has occurred as representatives from many countries, but not the US, gather in Moscow for a summit on peace and reconciliation. And while the Afghan Taliban were not the target of Thursday’s bombing, the perception that the US is willing to use Afghanistan as a testing ground for its more powerful and destructive conventional weapons cannot bode well for peace in the country.

The longest war in US history has gone from the forgotten war under Bush to the reluctant war under Obama to what under Trump? Strategic clarity in Afghanistan is needed.

Day care in parliament

IN this conflicted world, becoming a ‘first’ in anything can be equally negative or positive. Pakistan has several entries on both sides of the column, yet the subject here, happily, falls into the latter category. It seems that Pakistan’s parliament has become the first in South Asia to open a day care centre on its premises to allow female parliamentarians to continue with their work while having access to facilities where their infants can be looked after. Set up in Parliament House in collaboration with Unicef, the centre has been allotted two rooms on the third floor of the building. It was inaugurated by the speaker of the National Assembly, Ayaz Sadiq, on Thursday, and meets a long-standing, legitimate demand put forth by women members of the National Assembly and the Senate.

There can be no argument that this is a step in the right direction, with the highest house of legislation setting an example that desperately requires emulation at all tiers. It is by no means unprecedented — for years, such facilities have been available at several large corporate entities, though it is debatable whether the motivation stems from concern for the mothers and children, or the hard-nosed business acumen that deplores the loss of workers in whom the company has invested. Either way, the result is laudable. Where day care is available, it has made a substantive difference to the lives of those members — predominantly women but also a few men — of the workforce who otherwise find themselves stymied when trying to juggle small children with work responsibilities. Parliament House needs to follow up by running a strong advocacy campaign that filters down to the lowest levels of employment operations, for that is where such intervention is needed most. It is the working class that has the least options regarding childcare, and also the most to lose by sacrificing a job. Further, providing such options would ultimately see men taking ownership of their children’s needs as well.

Source: Editorials
Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2017

__________________
The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion !

A VIOLENT boundary incident with the potential to push already tense bilateral relations into further tumult, the fallout from the killing of Iranian border guards in an attack last week appears to have been handled diplomatically by both sides. In an unscheduled, day-long trip to Islamabad, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif met the top political and military leaders in the country on Wednesday. Following meetings with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, army chief Gen Qamar Bajwa and Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan, the Iranian foreign minister appears to have received a number of assurances from Pakistan that the state is both willing and able to address Iran’s security concerns. To be sure, the long, remote and sparsely populated border with Iran poses a number of problems for both sides. Over the years, both Pakistan and Iran have urged the other to do more to secure the frontier, curb smuggling and human trafficking, and crack down on dissidents operating on either side of the border. But the 11 deaths in an attack last week by Jaishul Adl, a Sunni militant group active in Sistan-Baluchistan, Iran, was both a particularly serious incident and took place at a time of heightened Pak-Iran tensions.

The decision by Pakistan to formally participate in the Saudi-led Islamic Military Alliance, allow former army chief Gen Raheel Sharif to lead the IMA and revisit allegations of Iranian interference in Balochistan following the conviction of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav appears to have contributed to a fierce initial response by Iran after the Jaishul Adl attack. Diplomacy, however, appears to have prevailed and the credit must go to both sides. Unlike Afghanistan and India, Iran expressed its concerns through diplomatic channels and demonstrated it was willing to follow up with meaningful interactions. Where Afghanistan and India have acted petulantly and refused to talk to Pakistan, the Iranians quickly sent a high-level delegation led by its globally respected foreign minister. A full day of meetings yielded a clear set of understandings for both sides and cooperative solutions in the form of better border coordination and an increase in the strength of border forces by Pakistan. Moreover, the meetings were an opportunity for Pakistan to allay Iranian concerns about the IMA. Neither the border problems nor the overall strategic concerns will be solved overnight, but it is a welcome sign that Iran and Pakistan have turned to greater diplomatic engagement.

For Pakistan, two things will be of importance. First, when it comes to concerns about foreign interference in Balochistan, the Iranians have shown they are open to diplomatic engagement at the very highest level — Pakistan should do the same. Second, border management should be an ongoing undertaking by both sides and communication channels up and down the chain of command should be kept open. There is simply no alternative to dialogue and diplomacy.




WITH three different parties ruling the four provinces, one would have thought that the public would have benefited from a competition in good governance. Unfortunately, overall indicators remain poor and progress towards a healthy, educated society has been tardy. Just the fact that there are some 22 million out-of-school children in Pakistan and the country continues to be a reservoir for the crippling polio virus is indication enough of how little priority we attach to such issues. Still, it would not be fair to overlook the positive points — few though they may be. For instance, the Sindh government that can be justifiably criticised for its abysmal neglect of civic issues has spearheaded some of the most forward-looking legislation in the country to strike at the foundations of regressive traditions such as underage marriage. In the same way, Punjab, though slower than Sindh to legislate on key human rights issues, has focused on alleviating transport problems for its people — even though the difference between the urban and rural parts of the province remains visible. For its part, the KP government, which is often accused of soft-pedalling militancy in a province that is on the front lines of the battle against terrorism, has introduced a number of initiatives for improving people’s lives.

KP’s record is of interest here and perhaps much of the PTI government’s blue-sky thinking can be attributed to its enthusiasm as a newcomer to power — unlike the PML-N and the considerably jaded PPP. It is, perhaps, too soon to say whether its efforts have achieved what the government intended — that will be decided by the electorate in the next elections. But there is little doubt that KP certainly has its goals and optics right as the advertisements about its various programmes indicate. Take the Sehat ka Insaaf campaign and interventions for mother and child health, or the tree plantation drive. Or the most recent initiative communicated through the press: raising awareness about and providing interventions in government schools for children with dyslexia. The provincial government promises, starting next year, remedial therapy and policy-level options. How well it follows through on its pledge remains to be seen, but even the realisation of a problem that is little discussed in the country is laudable. The other provinces would do well to follow KP’s lead and come up with workable schemes aimed at improving public life.




WHILE Israel’s rejection of it makes sense from the point of view of the long-term Zionist project, the policy document unveiled by the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) also evoked criticism from the Palestinian Authority, which reminded the Hamas leadership that wisdom had dawned on it 43 years late. Released to the media on Monday by Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal, due to retire soon, the document shows a degree of realism and adjusts if not repudiates some fundamentals of its policy contained in its 1988 founding charter. Back then, its aims were radical and reflected the deep frustration in a large section of the Palestinian people over the continued occupation of their land and the hastened pace of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. Identifying itself with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Hamas’s objectives had included the liberation of the territory between the river Jordan and the Mediterranean and the creation of an Islamic state in Palestine, all this being part of a confrontation between Muslims and Jews worldwide. Its military muscle and charity networks also added to its appeal to the Palestinian people and enabled the militant movement to capture power in Gaza through the electoral process in 2006.

However, Monday’s documents outlining Hamas’s “principles and general policies” mark a major departure from the 1988 charter and call for establishing a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 war borders. More significantly, the document makes no mention of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is now anathema to Egypt and some Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia. Released two days before President Donald Trump was to meet President Mahmoud Abbas, the documents attempt to create a soft image for Hamas and seek its entry into the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. While a PLO spokesman ridiculed the Hamas policy shift, saying it did what the PLO had done decades ago, all sides should realise Palestinian unity is now needed more than ever before. The PA and Hamas should bury the hatchet and fight together for a sovereign Palestinian state.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2017

https://www.dawn.com/newspaper/editorial

__________________
"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling ,but in rising every time we fall". (Nelson Mandela)

Attacks in Balochistan

THE contrast could not be grimmer and is almost certainly deliberate. As the country’s civilian leadership gathered in Beijing for a milestone summit of the One Belt, One Road project, Balochistan has come under vicious attack. In Mastung, Deputy Chairman of the Senate Ghafoor Haideri’s convoy was bombed during a visit to a local madressah. At least 25 people were killed in the attack, which has been claimed by the militant Islamic State group. A day later, in Gwadar, 10 labourers belonging to Sindh were killed, with separatist Baloch militants quickly claiming responsibility. The complex, multilayered, seemingly never-ending security crisis in Balochistan continues. What is apparent is that neither the state’s militarised approach to security in the province is working nor has the latest civilian government, led by one of Balochistan’s most powerful tribal sardars, had much success in engaging Baloch separatists in dialogue.

The Mastung attack is potentially more ominous because of the IS connection. For more than a decade, as the state has focused on fighting Baloch separatists, sensible observers in the province have warned of a parallel, rising religious extremism threat. Indeed, at various points, local leaders have accused the state of colluding with religious extremists to help fight the secular Baloch separatists. Whatever the truth to those allegations, there is an undeniable fact: a vast infrastructure of mosques, madressahs and social welfare networks has been created in Balochistan, helping turn a traditionally non-extremist population towards certain brands of deadly religious radicalism. Mastung itself has been playing host to a virulent cocktail of extremism and Baloch separatist thought, leading to a steady series of attacks over the years in the district. The attack on Friday is particularly troubling because it underlines an IS presence in the province, the ultra-violent, ultra-radical fringe taking on mainstream political parties from the religious right.

It can be expected that the country’s civil and military leaderships will unite to condemn the attacks and bemoan them as an attempt to sabotage CPEC by outside forces. While there may be some truth to those allegations, the twin attacks in Mastung and Gwadar almost certainly have very local roots. The long-running, low-level Baloch insurgency may be thoroughly riddled with inconsistencies, infiltrated by the state and too weak to mount a serious challenge to state authority, but neither is it any closer to being ended by the militarised approach of the security establishment. For all the state’s claims, Balochistan effectively remains a vast no-go area and the frenzied hubs of CPEC-related activity are guarded by extraordinary security. In the long term, this is not a viable approach for what is envisaged as a trading corridor with pockets of industrial activity. But is anyone in the state apparatus willing to acknowledge the flaws of a militarised approach to Balochistan’s security troubles?

OBOR summit

IT might yet be the largest delegation from any country attending the One Belt, One Road summit in Beijing that was seen alighting from the aircraft on Friday. Pakistan’s delegation consists of 11 senior leaders — from the prime minister to all four chief ministers — five members of the cabinet and the prime minister’s adviser on foreign affairs. Then they are a number of other junior officials who have been blessed with an invitation to travel with this group to Beijing. The OBOR summit is an important event for Pakistan, whose participation is crucial by virtue of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and high-level representation is necessary. But although there are important memorandums of understanding to be signed, one wonders how many of the delegates have come because their attendance is actually required, and how many have taken it as a joyride and a chance to press the flesh. Most other countries in attendance have opted to send far leaner delegations, because this is, after all, about diplomacy and business. It is not a wedding ceremony.

We are entitled to ask how many of the agreements and MoUs that are signed during this trip will be shared with the public or parliament. Most importantly, when does the government intend to make the long-term plan for CPEC, which is going to be finalised on this occasion, public. All other economic documents that have a far-reaching impact on the economy are made public, so why should this document be an exception? Since Pakistan’s leadership has chosen to represent the country with such force at this summit, perhaps they can now opt to communicate the understandings reached during it with equal emphasis to their own people back home. China is embarking on a historic venture with the OBOR initiative, and although the real fruits of the venture will take time to materialise, it is crucial for Pakistanis to know what exactly they are agreeing to, and what sort of changes they should expect. Thus far, CPEC has been little more than several rounds of smiles and handshakes for people here, and a growing number of them are now asking when the bill is expected, and how much it is estimated to be. Perhaps the visiting delegates should be required to present a detailed report to the national parliament and the provincial assemblies on all that they did during this visit.

Banning cold drinks

WHILE the state should ideally not be in the business of telling people what they can eat or drink, when it comes to vulnerable and impressionable segments of the population — such as youngsters — some regulations are necessary. In this regard, the Punjab Food Authority’s recent move to ban the sale of carbonated beverages in and around schools should be welcomed. Fizzy drinks have a magnetic effect on youngsters who are attracted to their sugary flavours and neon colours. However, the effects these drinks have on young bodies can be highly negative. In fact, some countries, on the advice of experts, have considered slapping a ‘fat tax’ on sugary drinks as a way to fight high obesity rates. Justifying its decision, the PFA took the action as it says “carbonated drinks [are] ... injurious to health, affecting [the] physical growth of children”. Legal action will be taken against those selling such drinks in school canteens and within a 100-metre radius of educational institutions. The ban is due to take effect after the summer vacations.

With the fizzy drinks’ ban, we are reminded of tobacco makers’ earlier targeting of youngsters with cute mascots and cartoons. Through the successful campaigns of activists, such deceptive advertising designed to attract young smokers was shut down. Manufacturers of carbonated beverages should be free to market their products — but not directly to children too young to understand what is and what is not good for their health. The PFA’s move should be studied and replicated by other provinces so that children across Pakistan are kept away from sugary drinks while in school. According to figures published in The Lancet some years ago, Pakistan ranked 9th out of 188 countries where obesity was concerned. Instead of allowing the powerful producers of junk food to target children, more efforts must be made to encourage healthy eating habits so that youngsters are provided with nutritious foods and snacks that aid their physical and mental growth.

Source: Editorials
Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2017

__________________
The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion !

Muslim world’s challenge

A MAIDEN trip to the Middle East by US President Donald Trump has underlined several dangerous contradictions at the heart of the global fight against militancy. If there is some unity left in the world today, it is about the understanding that virtually every country faces a militant threat. And in the militant Islamic State group, virtually every country faces a common threat. But global coordination against IS and other militant threats is being undermined by national, regional and international approaches to fighting militancy that are contradictory and self-defeating. Indeed, the placing of Mr Trump’s avowed goal of crushing IS at the centre of his administration’s foreign policy may unwittingly be helping the militants’ narrative of a war between Western and Islamic values. The war against militancy must be led and coordinated by the Muslim world. Militancy is first and foremost an existential threat to Muslim countries and any strategy against it that relies fundamentally on Western leadership and coordination will not succeed and can be counterproductive.

To be sure, Western nations face a dangerous problem of home-grown militancy and have intelligence and counterterrorism apparatuses that are vital to the global fight against militancy. No nation, not least the open, democratic societies in the West, can meekly surrender before millenarian terrorists who seek to destroy the very fabric of society. The serial devastation wrought across many European countries in recent times and the memory of 9/11 in the US loom large in any international conversation about militancy. Within the law and constitution of those countries, and in a way that aids the overall fight against militancy, the steps Western countries take in this battle can have desirable long-term effects. But the security of Western nations cannot be re-established in the long term without a global understanding that the fight against Islamist militancy must be led by Muslim countries and the fight to protect the minds of Muslims from violent ideologies must be led by Muslim societies.

Unhappily, the eagerness of Mr Trump to cast himself as his country’s protector against a militant threat he clearly has little understanding of is allowing Muslim-majority countries to once again escape responsibility for crafting a workable strategy to jointly defeat terrorism and militancy. While Saudi Arabia is rallying Sunni-majority countries to its side under the umbrella of the Islamic Military Alliance, Iran is continuing with its strategy of extending its influence across the Middle East via proxies. Meanwhile, the militant groups that all Muslim nations purport to fight are deepening their ideological influences in those very societies. Mr Trump will likely be on the world stage for four or eight years; militant ideology has a shelf life far greater. Long after Mr Trump and his bombast are gone, the Muslim world will still have to contend with the evil that lies within.

Excess power capacity

THERE is a growing risk that the government is now on a buying spree for more power- generation capacity than the country can handle. Sometime in the middle of last year, the government placed a cap on contracting further power-generation projects that rely on imported fuel. This was in line with projections of the burden these would place on foreign exchange reserves, which would be beyond what the economy could manage. There was also a cap on further power projects that have capacity payment charges built into their terms, since the additional power capacity that is currently in the pipeline is already going to leave the government with a massive bill. A vigorous conversation has been taking place within the water and power ministry ever since, focusing on these caps. This has not been without its casualties. Powerful vested interests wanting to be part of the rackets now brewing in the power sector have wielded their clout to get their way and have the caps adjusted or removed.

Only last week, we heard of a warning from the chief of the National Transmission and Despatch Company that runaway commitments to contract more and more power are being given to various parties. The latest is a commitment to the Sindh government to buy power from bagasse, the waste by-product from sugar mills, that the NTDC and the ministry have been resisting. For some reason, the Sindh chief minister is mounting an unusually strong representation on behalf of the sugar mill interests of his province. There are numerous other examples of projects being brought into the fold that had previously been scrapped. The government is in a mood to accommodate the chief minister’s request, more likely on political grounds than having anything to do with forecasts of power demand. One result of these runaway commitments is that the bill for capacity payments will be beyond the government’s ability to handle by 2020 when most of these plants have been commissioned, causing large-scale damage to the country’s fiscal framework without yielding any significant dividends in return. The country may be in the midst of an acute power shortage at the moment, but that does not mean that these plants be commissioned with reckless speed. The government should heed the warnings of overcapacity, and tread carefully when tampering with the caps of last year.

Data protection

THERE has been no official word on the extent to which Pakistan was affected by the massive, global cyber-attack earlier this month. However, it has emerged that the Punjab Land Records Authority, with a database of over 55m holdings, was hacked one week after the initial outbreak — after the spread of the virus had already been halted to a large extent by the swift actions of governments and companies. The scale and frequency of cyber-attacks on databases have intensified in recent years, compromising the most private, sensitive information — including biometric data, which cannot be changed like a password — of millions of individuals across the world. Given how easily it could have been avoided or at least mitigated with updated systems and anti-virus software, the attack on PLRA does not inspire confidence in how our government is addressing this emergent threat.

In this age of increasing connectivity, when just one corrupted system can impact an entire network, instead of a concerted effort to improve cyber literacy at every level there appears to be an ad hoc policy of leaving everyone to fend for themselves. While several state institutions are purportedly implementing new safeguards, it seems there are no across-the-board measures in the public sector, or directives to the private sector, or awareness campaigns. Perhaps the closest this government has come to addressing data protection — how data is collected, used and secured — is in a recommendation to develop legislation to that effect in the IT ministry’s Digital Pakistan Policy 2017. With over 30m internet users in the country, e-commerce and e-governance is rapidly expanding — a trend that has the potential to revolutionise the economy, optimise the efficiency and distribution of public services, and improve development indicators overall. But the stability of this growth remains threatened so long as the state is more preoccupied with the arbitrary surveillance of social media activity than the truly critical national security issue of safeguarding its citizens’ personal data.

Source: Editorials
Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2017

__________________
The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion !