HDT chief’s detention
RATHER than lending a sympathetic ear to the people of Balochistan, the state’s response more often than not is to yield a big stick. This has certainly been the response to the Haq Do Tehreek’s protests in Gwadar and other parts of Makran. The HDT’s leader, Maulana Hidayatur Rehman, has been in jail since mid-January, after a policeman died when supporters of his movement and law enforcers clashed. While protests had largely declined since the maulana’s arrest, the people of Gwadar are now back on the streets. A recent demonstration saw Gwadar’s women demanding basic facilities for their area, and lamenting the fact that Maulana Hidayat had been locked up for raising the area’s issues. Recently, the leadership of Jamaat-i-Islami, to which the maulana belongs, also warned the state to release the HDT leader. Hidayatur Rehman has been denied bail by the Balochistan High Court. Interestingly, as the protesters point out, provincial minister Abdul Rehman Khetran, who has been accused of involvement in a triple-murder case, was recently granted bail.
The fact is that the HDT chief had tapped a raw nerve, becoming the voice of Makran’s people, who have hardly gained from the lofty promises the state made to transform Balochistan through Gwadar. The establishment uses terms like ‘game changer’ when mentioning Gwadar, yet the locals continue to have problems securing basic facilities such as water, while Makran’s fisherfolk have been unable to make a decent living due to the presence of illegal trawlers. Unfortunately, the state has failed to fulfil the pledges it made to the people, particularly HDT supporters. Instead, according to reports, powerful figures in uniform have vowed to crack down on those who stage protests in Balochistan. Perhaps it is time the prime minister intervened to ensure Maulana Hidayat is granted bail and allowed to defend himself in court, and that the state delivers on the promises made to the people of Makran.
Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2023
Health insurance
IT is frustrating to watch a major public welfare initiative meant to ensure universal health coverage for 25m families grinding to a halt. A lifeline for those unable to afford hospitalisation and expensive medical interventions continues to be rolled back by the PML-N through the caretaker set-up in Punjab. State Life Insurance has already warned the provincial health authorities that it will be compelled to discontinue the facility of free hospitalisation under the Sehat Sahulat Programme — the official name for the health insurance initiative instituted by the previous PTI government — because of non-payment of the pending premium of Rs83.5bn to the insurer. As per a report in this paper, provincial officials managing the project blame the situation on the political animosity between the PML-N and PTI. The first hint that the PML-N might shut down the scheme came several weeks back, when the federal planning ministry raised objections to the flagship programme, labelling it ‘wasteful and untargeted’. However, few had thought that the government would actually implement its plans to roll back the initiative, which has so far benefited some 3.2m patients across the province. It is reported by the health authorities that the free facility, which is available at 724 public and private hospitals, has mostly been used by people who were not able to pay for healthcare costs from their own pockets.
It will be unfortunate if this project is shut down over fears that the PML-N’s rival may cash in on it at the time of the next elections. Universal health insurance is Pakistan’s best chance to successfully achieve one of the core goals adopted by the UN’s SDG agenda to protect the most vulnerable segments of society. Pakistan is far behind even countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in terms of the availability of quality healthcare and its accessibility to vulnerable groups. If the government is concerned about wastage, it should sit with the insurance company to improve the initiative to ensure that its gains are delivered to all citizens, particularly those living in backward regions, and that checks are placed on private healthcare facilities to prevent them from abusing it to their financial advantage. In doing so, there should be no compromise on the quality of healthcare services. The rollback of a public welfare project such as this one for political reasons can only be called criminal.
Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2023
Internal chaos
THE incumbent government seems to be having great trouble asserting itself while remaining within the limits of the law. With the interior minister making it clear that he is willing to go to any lengths — “democratic or undemocratic; principled or unprincipled” — to counter the PTI, he has just confirmed the worst fears of political analysts and observers who have been warning about Pakistan’s gradual slide towards totalitarianism.
‘There are no laws and no rules’ binding the government any longer, to paraphrase Rana Sanaullah. In other words, the PDM government will abuse state power if it needs to in order to neutralise the once again resurgent PTI. “It is us or them,” as the interior minister quite candidly explained in a recent interview during which he made these remarks. This hardly bodes well for national stability.
However one may interpret Mr Sanaullah’s statement, the PML-N is clearly struggling to counter the PTI politically. It may not acknowledge this, but the large rally in Lahore’s Greater Iqbal Park late Saturday was a clear enough message that using state-sanctioned violence to cut the party down to size does not appear to be working.
The rally was, by most independent accounts, quite well-attended despite the Punjab administration’s efforts. The arrest and disappearance, respectively, of two prominent young faces in the PTI — lawyer Hassaan Niazi and head of the PTI’s social media team, Azhar Mashwani — reports of the detention of lower-level party organisers and their family members; police raids at supporters and sympathisers’ homes; and the willy-nilly blocking of Lahore’s roads with containers and other impediments on the day of the rally all failed to have a chilling effect on the PTI’s supporters. No wonder the interior minister feels frustrated.
Brute force only looks like an ‘answer’ where politics fails. We saw this when PML-N activists were rounded up in July 2018 to sabotage the PML-N’s electoral chances, and we see it happening to a different set of actors today. In both cases, the forces behind the campaigns of abduction and harassment appear to be the same.
In both cases, the shameful acquiescence of civilian leaders — clearly hoping to derive political benefits from the violent repression of their opponents — allowed rogue actors to expand their influence in the political domain. Mr Sanaullah — himself a victim of the state’s excesses — should have known better.
The enforced disappearance of Mr Mashwani and other workers, regulatory bans on the media’s coverage of the PTI, frivolous arrests of political workers and unleashing the police on the citizenry will not win the PML-N any ‘free and fair’ elections.
Instead, they will worsen the anarchy that the interior minister himself concedes is prevailing in the country. Perhaps Mr Sanaullah should consider setting better precedents rather than repeating the mistakes of the past.
Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2023