IN an age that requires transparency and leveraging the rapid flow of information, Pakistan appears to be swimming against the tide. Protestations against rising media censorship and growing curbs on the constitutionally mandated freedom of expression have been rising since the PTI government took power more than two years ago.
Today, it is no secret that the media is under constant pressure to desist from saying, writing and showing anything that does not gel with the official version of events. Speaking truth to power, apparently, is considered quaint and unfashionable. The fact is, nothing could be further from the truth. This unfortunate reality was visible in vivid colours during the PDM rally in Karachi on Sunday.
TV channels would dip into speeches by various leaders and then cut back to studios on apparent whim. However, there was clearly more than what met the eye. It was not long before it became obvious that speakers who are known critics of the establishment’s political role got little or no time on air.
Leaders like Mahmood Achakzai, Mohsin Dawar and Akhtar Mengal — who have been consistent in demanding greater rights for their provinces and communities — were either not shown while speaking to the large audience, or parts of their speech were muted. It was clear that news channels were being instructed from somewhere whom to show and whom to black out. This made a mockery of the concept of editorial freedom and reduced the coverage of private news channels to the level of a state broadcaster.
Organisers of the Gujranwala and Karachi jalsas have done well to ensure leaders from all parties get to speak to audiences. This represents a mature and progressive approach to national integration and is the right way to bring more people into our political mainstream. However, by censoring the speeches of its critics, the official machinery is nullifying the inclusive progress towards greater integration.
This is a short-sighted and self-defeating approach that does more harm than good. We should have learnt this by now, having repeated the same mistakes over and over again. Somehow the state finds it hard to reconcile with democratic notions of tolerance and respect for differing points of view within society. Censorship of the kind we are witnessing today reflects the fear and insecurities embedded within the state structure. Such insecurities have fuelled alienation among those who need to be enveloped in a national embrace. We continue to endure the adverse consequences of pursuing such myopic policies.
Censorship has no place in a modern society. If Pakistan has to live up to its Constitution and the values of its founder Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the state must step back from its coercive approach towards freedom of expression and let people speak their mind. Contrary to official beliefs, this will strengthen, not weaken, the federation.
Exit denied
BLACKLIST? It is more like a black hole that has devoured thousands of Pakistani passport holders wanting to travel. Interior Minister Ijaz Shah learnt that a large number of Pakistanis were prevented from going abroad because their names were on a travel blacklist. He asked the DG Immigration & Passports to hold an ‘immediate’ meeting of the review committee “to consider cases on merit and remove names after due process”. The results were eye-opening. No less than 5,807 citizens of this modern state were freed from the ban that had led to an automatic seizure of their passports. The committee apparently has the mandate to periodically review such cases. This time it was meeting after nearly four years — yes, four years of categorising people as unfit to go abroad. The lucky ones who managed to escape the ignominy belonged to the ‘B’ category of the travel blacklist, which is mostly comprised of names of Pakistanis deported for one reason or another. Those under Category ‘A’ are said to have been involved in more serious crimes such as terrorism, money laundering and anti-state activities. The committee is set to consider more cases in its “forthcoming periodic review as per recommendations of the agencies and departments concerned”. Not just that, the interior minister directed the committee to meet biannually so that it can review the cases of blacklisted individuals.
Bravo! A generous gesture, indeed, towards Pakistanis stuck on the list for years. But before rushing off to celebrate this victory of good sense, let’s ask the interior ministry a question that has often been asked before: under what legal authority is this list created and maintained? There is a four-decades-old Exit Control List that can take care of anyone not in the good books of the government. With the ECL there, any travel blacklist would appear to be surplus to the requirement of our gatekeepers, however eager they may be to block exits. Unfortunately, this black hole of a list still has some 36,617 individuals marked as not good for travel abroad. The suspicion is that the blacklist was created for the fast disposal of cases as opposed to going through the legal formalities that officials always find so cumbersome. If so, it’s just another sad manifestation of the same trait that encourages those in authority to break the law in the name of a speedy remedy, an example of which can be found in policemen staging hasty encounters.
Worsening gas shortage
THE proposal to stop connecting domestic gas consumers to the extensive pipeline network of SSGC and SNGPL in future as part of the broader national energy-sector reform plan has been on the table for some years now. The suggestion was put forward to bridge the growing supply gap during winter on account of fast-depleting indigenous resources and the increasing demand of fuel but was never implemented for fear of a backlash. With worsening winter gas shortages a permanent part of our energy crisis for over a decade and a half, the previous government had tried to fill the gap by incentivising the establishment of two RLNG terminals to import liquid natural gas. But the imports have never matched the demand, which continues to rise.
Gas accounts for more than half of Pakistan’s total energy consumption and is used for a variety of purposes ranging from cooking to manufacturing fertilisers to fuelling cars to producing electricity. Nevertheless, domestic consumers, who get the heavily subsidised fuel through one of the world’s largest pipeline gas supply networks, have always led the other sectors in generating new demand. With almost a quarter of its population connected to the gas supply network, around 3m more people are waiting for new connections while gas companies have the capacity and resources to provide up to 400,000 connections annually. Pakistan needs more gas. What should we do? The ban on domestic gas connections may slow down the pace of increase in the winter supply gap and cut imports, but it will not help cover the worsening gas deficit. Nor are LNG imports a sustainable solution given the nation’s weak external sector situation. The long-term solution lies in adding to domestic gas reserves by exploring indigenous resources. But the government will have to make new gas exploration attractive for firms by offering them competitive prices. For that, it needs to remove pricing distortions and subsidies to bring domestic prices at par with international rates. That again will be a politically tough decision to make.
