DAWN-Articles
26th February,2024
Power, Purpose, Governance- Maleeha Lodhi
The structural sources of persisting financial imbalances are well
known — a narrow and inequitable tax regime, limited export
base, the energy sector’s circular debt, bankrupt public-sector
enterprises, heavy regulatory burden and low savings and
investment. Band-aid responses to these problems are no longer
tenable. Comprehensive reforms have to be implemented to put
Pakistan on the path to growth and investment. Establishing fast-
track entities such as the Special Investment Facilitation
Council which ignore the unstable macroeconomic situation will
yield modest results, if that.
Beyond Environmental Policy-Umar Farooq
Pakistan’s environmental predicament is a poignant illustration of
the disparity between a nation’s contribution to global
greenhouse gas emissions and the severity of its climate-related
challenges. Despite accounting for less than one per cent of global
GHG emissions, Pakistan is significantly impacted by climate
change. According to a World Bank report, the recent climate-
induced disasters in Pakistan, including a heatwave and
devastating floods, caused over 1,700 deaths, displaced more
than eight million people, and resulted in more than $30 billion in
damages and economic losses. The combined risks of extreme
climate-related events, environmental degradation, and air
pollution could reduce Pakistan’s GDP by 18pc to 20pc by 2050.
Addressing Pakistan’s environmental challenges necessitates a
fundamental shift from the prevailing mindset and policy
framework.
The need of the hour is not just an environmental policy, but a
comprehensive land use policy. This policy should be
multidimensional, encompassing agriculture, nature conservation
and restoration, industrial practices, and housing strategies.
The agriculture sector with its distributional consequences is
responsible for more than 50pc of GHG emissions. Traditional
agricultural methods have led to extensive land degradation,
water scarcity, and a decrease in biodiversity. The latest figure
indicates that the per capita availability of water in Pakistan has
declined to 1,017 cubic meters per person in 2021, significantly
below the threshold for water scarcity, while rent-seeking
farmers-turned-industrialists heavily lobbying for sugarcane
cultivation in the south have made it worse.
Similarly, nature conservation and restoration, is crucial. A
strategic focus on restoring and conserving natural habitats —
forests, wetlands, and grasslands — is vital. Another billion-tree
tsunami is badly needed.
[Link]
policy
Good examples -Rafia Zakaria (28-2-2024)
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the share of
women in the workplace increased to 42.6 per cent in 2022 from
36pc five years earlier. Promises have been made to increase the
share to 50pc. It is notable that this push to increase the labour
share is seen particularly among the women in rural areas.
That is not all of it; international organisations see Bangladesh as a
‘fast-track’ country that is improving its delivery of health services
particularly for women. Part of this was the establishment of
16,000 community clinics and 13,000 maternity clinics. This has
meant vast improvements in the maternal mortality rate in the
country as well.
Waves of Terrorism-Muhammad Ali Babakhel (4-3-
2024)
HISTORICALLY, terrorism has evolved in its aims, forms, frequency, lethality,
targets, and operation methods at various intervals. The changes underscore
the shifting dynamics of terrorism, driven by global political shifts and
technological advancements. While terrorism’s underlying causes have varied
across different periods, the common thread has been a group of individuals
rejecting the prevailing system and resorting to violence to draw attention and
achieve their goals.
The evolution of terrorism can be categorised into four waves — the ‘anarchist’
(1880-1920s), ‘anti-colonial’ (1920-1960), ‘new left’ (1960s to end-century) and
‘religiously inspired’ (1979 onwards). A ‘wave of terrorism’ represents a cycle of
increased and decreased activity in a specific time frame, characterized by phases
of expansion and contraction.
The kidnapping and murder of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro by the
Red Brigades in 1979 marked a significant moment in the third wave, underlining
the continued importance of kidnapping as a tactic. Between 1968 and 1982, the
world witnessed 49 international kidnapping incidents involving 951 hostages,
forcing companies to insure their executives against kidnappings. This wave also
saw renewed efforts in political assassinations. The IRA and its offshoots were
responsible for killing two British ambassadors in 1976 and 1979, Lord
Mountbatten in 1979, and of unsuccessful attempts on the lives of Margaret
Thatcher and John Major. Additionally, the Black September group assassinated
Jordan’s prime minister in 1971. It was during this wave that the term
‘international terrorism’ became widespread, as militant groups engaged in
coordinated attacks, kidnappings, and hijackings. In Latin America and the Middle
East, the US emerged as a primary target, with a third of all international terrorist
acts aimed at American interests.
However, efforts to enhance global collaboration against terrorism led to the
signing of international, including UN, conventions from 1970 to 1999, aimed at
prohibiting hijacking and hostage-taking.
The fourth wave has been characterised by a misinterpretation of religion as a
dominant factor, with militant groups leveraging the internet for recruitment,
radicalisation, and fundraising. They have also mastered the use of social media
platforms to disseminate sophisticated propaganda. This wave stands apart from
its predecessors, driven not by political ambitions but by a distorted
interpretation of religious doctrines. Advocates of religiously motivated terrorism
contend that the eradication of perceived evil justifies the use of militancy. Events
such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Iranian Revolution played a
role in propelling religious fundamentalism into prominence, whereas groups like
the Tamil Tigers attempted to maintain a secular image.
In 1901, president Roosevelt rallied for a crusade to eliminate terrorism globally,
and a century later, in September 2001, president George W. Bush proclaimed a
“war that would continue until every terrorist group with global reach had been
identified, halted, and defeated”. The global nature of terrorism calls for
enhanced international collaboration, including the establishment of MOUs,
mutual legal assistance, and extradition treaties, as crucial measures for
combating terrorism and minimizing the influence of violent non-state entities.
Link: [Link]
Climate Stresses-Huma Yusuf
Our political crises and elite bargaining always come at the expense of
governance and service delivery. Democracy – in its true sense, not a hybrid
facade – is a prerequisite for a functioning government that can provide
prosperity and protection. But while we fight for the former, we are losing hope
of achieving the latter.
The flooding in Balochistan is the latest reminder that climate change-related
disasters remain among the top challenges for our country. And these disasters
are not tragic one-off events that can be mopped up with a quick dab of
emergency relief and rescue. Each disaster has social, political and security
implications that extend for years. Today’s floods are tomorrow’s famine, protest
movements, insurgency.
Balochistan is a particularly dire example of how climate change-related stresses
will exacerbate fragility and potentially fuel conflict. A 2021 survey by the IPC
Integrated Food Security Phase Class found that 25 per cent of Balochistan’s rural
population was food-insecure, with some districts facing emergency-level food
shortages. Given that more than half the province’s population relies on
agriculture or livestock-related activities for their livelihood, this food insecurity
can partly be attributed to drought and climate change more widely. Other
drivers are food inflation, soaring fuel prices and livestock diseases.
The same survey found that 64pc of the province’s farming
households struggled to sell their produce, propelling a vicious
circle of food insecurity. This was because of difficult access to
markets, either due to poor infrastructure that led to transport
delays and crop damage or the high cost of transportation. Last
week’s rains will worsen this situation: the roads that have
dissolved will take months, if not years, to repair, impairing
mobility. Local fuel costs will likely soar, following disruption to
Pakistan-Iran border routes due to flooding. Secondary sources of
income such as inter-provincial or cross-border trading will be hard
hit.
Research shows that a local temperature rise of 0.5 degrees Celsius
increases the likelihood of conflict by 10 to 20pc as climate change
drives resource competition. Baluchistan’s already explosive
political dynamics — rooted in valid historical grievances over
resource extraction and state excesses, particularly disappearances
— will further ignite due to climate change-driven resource
scarcity.
Stay of the IRSA Minefield-Abbas Nasir
(3-24-2024)
A vibrant federation that guarantees the rights of all federating units is a
prerequisite for national unity. Where there are widespread complaints and
allegations of many people feeling disenfranchised, an arbitrary attempt to
enforce a pro-centre financial solution will not help.
A number of experts, including Dawn columnist Khurram Husain last
Thursday, have argued that blaming the provincial share for the financial
woes of the centre may be an oversimplification as there are many other
areas that need to be looked at, the most fundamental being tax reform.
Khurram Husain makes a compelling case that raising the issue of the
provinces’ ‘profligacy’ to explain the federal resource crunch is a red
herring.
Also, respected economist Dr Hafiz Pasha told Dawn News that, as it is,
revenue collected under certain heads, for example ‘the non-tax petroleum
levy’ of some Rs500 billion this year alone, sits outside the Federal Divisible
Pool from which the provincial allocations are made.
He wouldn’t go into the details but one got a sense that other such
‘creative’ solutions are or will be in place to ‘significantly’ reduce the
overall size of the pool. These ‘solutions’ have been found because it was
mandated in the 18th Amendment that subsequent NFC Awards cannot
reduce the provinces’ share below 57.5 per cent of the Federal Divisible
Pool in the seventh award, as agreed to.
This is such a political hot potato that the current or seventh award was
supposed to end in 2014-15, but despite the formation of the eighth, ninth
and 10th NFCs, no new award has been possible after the passage of nine
years since the supposed ‘expiry’ of the last award.
Dr Pasha does not find the provinces blameless and said it was
‘disappointing’ that the provinces made little to no progress in initiating a
sales tax on services, agriculture income tax and the urban immovable
property tax, all of which together constitute some 88 per cent of the
economy.
Not sure if you followed the row over the now-withdrawn appointment of an
‘outside’ person, a former civil servant known for his advocacy for Kalabagh
dam in the past, as the chairman of the Indus River System Authority.
Normally, as per Irsa rules, the members are elevated to the chairman’s
position by rotation for a fixed short tenure. Irsa was set up and these rules
agreed to after the March 1991 Water Apportionment Accord was signed by
the provinces for implementation.
It was approved by the Council of Common Interests the same month in
1991, despite Sindh’s pleadings (and Balochistan’s objections) that it was
not receiving its share of the Indus water as was evident from the incursion
of seawater into the riparian end, leading to an ecological disaster. Even
where the accord did not fully address these fears it served as a venting
platform and assuaged the concerns of the smaller provinces somewhat.
Things ran relatively smoothly for nearly a quarter of a century. Then came
the caretaker government of Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar. It
overstepped its remit by amending the Irsa rules and provided for the
appointment of an ‘outsider’ or a non-member as chairman.
This wasn’t all. It isn’t clear who pushed it but in January this year Irsa
issued a water availability certificate allowing for the supply of water on top
of Punjab’s share to irrigate the desert lands of Cholistan in south Punjab.
This disregarded Sindh’s legitimate claim to a particular volume of the
southern flow of Kotri Barrage.