IN the Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual Inclusive Internet Index report, measuring internet inclusion in terms of availability, affordability, relevance and readiness, Pakistan’s overall ranking has dropped to 90th place among 120 nations; the second lowest ranking country in Asia and the lowest in South Asia. In the midst of a global pandemic that has made the need for internet access even more evident, the report warns that failure to improve conditions may widen inequalities between on- and offline populations. Though there are several improvements that Pakistan has made to improve internet access — chiefly in affordability due to market competition and lowering mobile phone costs — one of the most troubling figures is that of the digital gender parity.
Despite an improvement of six percentage points since the previous year, the report highlights that Pakistan still ranks the highest in the world when it comes to the gender gap. The gap in internet access between men and women is 65pc, and 51pc in access to mobile phones. This massive disparity has been noted in several other reports over the years, including the recent Mobile Gender Gap Report 2020 measuring mobile ownership and data usage in 15 low- and middle-income countries. In a study released in January, the non-profit Media Matters for Democracy found that six out of 10 women it surveyed faced restrictions at home when using the internet. Inequalities across income, geography and gender must be addressed holistically in Pakistan. Access to information is a fundamental right, yet the fact that there are still areas in this country without internet services despite the government’s promises lays bare our commitment to this constitutional guarantee. Digital policies seem to lack ownership; rather, successive governments as well as state institutions have been more intent on policing the internet than enabling access and promoting its use to improve human development. The cost of this failure to imagine the economic possibilities and social empowerment that the internet opens up is ultimately being paid by the most disenfranchised among us.
More mishandling
THE TLP affair should have been handled better. It is fairly obvious now that the PTI government has run circles around itself while attempting to get a grip on the situation. The bizarre turn of events on Tuesday — with the government introducing a resolution in the National Assembly through a private member to debate the expulsion of the French ambassador — has brought Pakistan to a stage where it will be seen as pandering to the TLP while pretending to play smart tactics.
This becomes even more obvious when the resolution is contrasted with the speech that Prime Minister Imran Khan delivered on Monday in a bid to explain his strategy. The crux of his argument was reasonable. He said that no Muslim would ever compromise on the finality of Prophethood, but this did not mean that one party should be allowed to monopolise the issue. He correctly pointed out that he had raised the matter at all international forums, including the UN, and therefore the objectives of his government and the TLP were the same, only the approach was different. The grave consequences of expelling the French ambassador from the country, as demanded by the TLP were also explained.
However, of what use was this effort? For the very next day, his government caved in. While yesterday’s National Assembly resolution does not demand the expulsion of the ambassador, the very fact that the government has agreed to a debate on the issue is enough to extract a diplomatic cost. Unfortunately, this does not come as a surprise. From the start of the TLP protests, the government has made one mistake after another. The initial agreement with the TLP, in which the government had agreed in writing to the main demand of the right-wing outfit, was a major blunder. No government commits itself in writing to such demands from a pressure group without having to suffer the consequences.
When the TLP launched countrywide protests against the government’s refusal to comply with its original agreement, the government at first let the law and order situation slip out of its hand, allowing the protesters to run amok, and then hastily announced a ban on the organisation. However, it then started to negotiate with the party it had banned and finally accepted its demands to a very dangerous extent, including the release of the TLP’s leader.
To add to its self-created troubles, the government then launched critical barbs at the opposition instead of trying to forge a consensus on this sensitive issue. It is now important that the government brings transparency to all its dealings with the TLP including sharing what has been negotiated and agreed upon in letter and spirit. By its bad decision-making and weak management, the government has allowed the TLP to garner more importance and heft than it deserves.
Declining FDI
THE sharp decline in FDI in recent months is worrisome. New State Bank data shows that FDI has plummeted by a hefty 35pc to $1.4bn year-on-year from July to March and by 40pc to 167.6m month-on-month in March. Although Covid-19 has led to a significant decrease in investment across the world during the last one year as investors wait for the crisis to subside, the plunge in FDI flows is not a one-off event in Pakistan. We have seen investment tumble from 2017 as foreign investors, including Chinese companies, do not appear inclined to consider Pakistan as their favourite destination. That is not all. Many foreign firms have sold their businesses and exited Pakistan for good. The Italian oil and gas major, ENI, is the most recent example. Historically, FDI flows have constituted less than 1pc of the nation’s GDP while comparable economies have attracted foreign investments equal to or over 3pc. The only time Pakistan saw an FDI ‘boom’ was during the mid-2000s when foreign investors brought their capital here to invest in the power, financial, oil & gas exploration and telecom sectors, and during the mid-2010s when China bankrolled expensive power and transport projects under the multibillion-dollar CPEC initiative. There were numerous reasons, such as energy shortages and poor security conditions, for the lacklustre response of foreign investors to attractive policy packages that successive governments announced in the last decade and a half to woo them.
Now, with the energy shortages taken care of and improved security conditions, the continuous decline in FDI flows underscores policy issues that the government must address to make this country attractive for foreign capital. This needs to be done urgently as the world is expected to return to normalcy before the end of 2022 as most people across the continents get inoculated against the coronavirus, and companies reconsider their investment plans for markets like Pakistan. With China becoming less attractive for global capital because of an aging population and increasing labour wages, both Chinese and Western firms are looking for new destinations. Luckily for Pakistan, Vietnam and Bangladesh have also lost some of their lustre for international investors. This leaves us with large room to market Pakistan’s potential to foreign companies and influence their investment decisions. But for that to happen, the government will need to draw up a proper strategy and reform its policies to make them predictable and bring consistency to them.
