Senseless death
CONSIDERING the unrelenting crime wave that has engulfed Karachi, law enforcers are understandably under a lot of public pressure to crack down on criminals. However, as the senseless death of a young man in the city on Tuesday has shown, overzealous and trigger-happy policemen need better training to ensure that no lives of innocent citizens are lost as they try and fight crime. As reported, Amir Hussain was shot by members of a police squad after he failed to stop when the cops signalled to him to pull over during snap-checking. The policemen gave chase and shot him twice as he tried to make his way into a Gulistan-i-Jauhar apartment complex. Senior police officials have admitted that a grave mistake was committed, and an innocent man was killed. This deplorable incident revives memories of the Amal Umer case; the 10-year-old child was killed in similar circumstances in 2018, when the vehicle in which she was travelling got caught in the crossfire between police and criminals. In that tragedy, too, it was a policeman’s bullet that took the young girl’s life.
The sad fact is that armed, violent criminals stalk the city without fear, and neutralising them is a major challenge for the police. However, strategies need to be devised to ensure that while fighting crime in congested urban environments like Karachi, no innocent individual is gunned down, and no collateral deaths occur in shootouts between police and criminals. The latest killing should spur the Sindh police to enforce within their ranks the rule that unarmed individuals must not be shot at. And if the police feel a fleeing unarmed individual truly presents a threat, they can use non-lethal methods to subdue them, such as tasers. The fact is that Karachi needs a better-trained, better-equipped police team that can intelligently fight crime without putting innocent citizens’ lives at risk, and that lethal force is resorted to only in matters of self-defence, or when the threat to public safety is obvious.
Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2022
Default concerns
FINANCE MINISTER Ishaq Dar has once again sought to quash speculation that Pakistan could default on its foreign debt obligations. Speaking to investors via video link, he admitted that the economy was in a “tight spot”, but added that the fears of defaulting had no basis whatsoever. “Not a day passes that I don’t hear speculations of a default. There’s no chance of Pakistan defaulting on its debt payments,” he contended. To press his point, he said there were several other economies, including the US, the UK and Japan, that had a far worse debt-to-GDP ratio than Pakistan’s 72pc, and yet no one believed these countries would default. Indeed, the likelihood of Islamabad missing its debt payments in the short to medium term is minimal. Nor is the comparison between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, one of the four countries to have defaulted on their sovereign debt, valid at this stage. In spite of a difficult domestic macroeconomic environment caused by fiscal profligacy and massive import growth, and exacerbated by uncertain global economic and political conditions, the present government has managed to stave off the risk of default by reviving the IMF loan programme, notwithstanding the current hurdles. Credit must also be given to the coalition set-up for taking certain unpopular decisions that significantly eroded its political capital.
Nonetheless, no minister or other government official can blame the opposition PTI for its consistent narrative of a potential default. There are legitimate reasons that the default debate refuses to die down. The top global rating agencies have already downgraded Pakistan’s ratings to junk territory. Forex reserves continue to shrink and the exchange rate remains under pressure despite stringent curbs by the State Bank to reduce the nation’s burgeoning import bill. Commercial creditors have turned down requests to roll over debt, at least for now. Various international agencies have projected that Pakistan could face a severe currency crisis in the next 12 months. The IMF has twice postponed its next programme performance review, delaying the disbursement of the $1.2bn tranche. Other multilateral and bilateral creditors aren’t delivering on their commitments due to Islamabad’s ongoing tensions with the IMF on unmet programme targets. Unless investors see a reversal in these trends, the market will continue to worry about Pakistan’s ability to repay its debt. Fixing our relationship with the Fund would be the first concrete step towards quashing the default rumours once and for all.
Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2022
Undemocratic tendencies
A DEEPLY worrying trend has been noticed in recent months, with the political parties that till last year were proclaiming themselves to be the champions of democracy now using every means at their disposal to block public participation in the political process.
Be it by-elections, local government elections, the acceptance of the resignations of lawmakers who have quit the National Assembly, or the matter of returning to the public for a general election and fresh mandate — the Pakistan Democratic Movement is doing everything possible to maintain its power rather than leave the fate of the country to the people of Pakistan.
There appears to be no logical reason why it has sought to do so apart from what is obvious: it knows it has lost the narrative war to Imran Khan. Results of by-elections held since last April have hammered this realisation home, and the ruling parties are not willing to risk anything further on the public’s vote.
Resistance to holding elections where and when they are due is patently undemocratic and against the spirit of the political system envisioned in our Constitution. Protecting democracy does not mean denying the people the right to choose who they want as leaders. That is something only dictators do.
It is hardly democratic that the National Assembly Speaker keeps delaying the acceptance of the resignations of PTI lawmakers from the Lower House on one pretext or the other.
It was indeed commendable for as long as the motivation was to convince the PTI to return to the House, but putting it off just to deny the PTI a tactical advantage seems self-serving rather than something done for the greater national good.
As regards local government elections, all parties have, in recent years, been equally guilty of denying the people a third tier of government. However, the ‘novel’ tactics being employed now signal that the ruling parties are too afraid of giving their rival parties any momentum ahead of the general election.
Pakistan needs extensive administrative realignment to emerge in one piece from the ongoing crisis, and this can only be done with the help of a fresh mandate from the people.
Yet the ruling parties continue to prioritise their narrow interests over the country’s welfare, and each delayed election hammers this point home. In retrospect, the decision to keep the government has proven a disastrous mistake that has progressively decimated the PDM parties’ chances at the ballot box.
The PDM is now also losing its democratic credentials in its obsession with defeating the PTI chief by any means. It is said that if you stare too deep into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you. Before the PDM crosses a line it may find difficult to return to, it must stop hindering the political process and let democracy take its course.
Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2022