Fury of the mob
ANOTHER chapter in our history of religious violence was written on Sunday when a Chinese national working at the Dasu hydropower project came close to being lynched by a frenzied mob.
Labourers at the site were reportedly enraged over his objections to “precious time” being lost on account of prayer breaks and accused him of committing blasphemy. They then went and incited others in nearby villages about what had taken place; a large crowd gathered and tried to storm the Chinese camp where the foreign national was present. Fortunately, the cops arrived and managed to whisk him away to the police station from where he was airlifted to Abbottabad.
On Monday, the man was charged with blasphemy by an ATC and sent on 14-day judicial remand. The only silver lining in this episode was that another horrific murder like that of the Sri Lankan national, Priyantha Kumara, was avoided. In December 2021, Mr Kumara, a factory manager in Sialkot, was set upon by a hundreds-strong mob after being accused of blasphemy. In a bestial orgy of violence, they beat him to death and set his body on fire.
Six years ago, Mashal Khan was lynched by a mob of fellow students on the same pretext. Videos of the gruesome act laid bare the ugly reality of what decades of a state-sponsored triumphalist view of religion — propagated through the pulpit and sections of the media — can do to a society. It later emerged that certain university officials were infuriated by Mashal’s courageous activism about corruption in the administration department, etc.
An allegation of blasphemy was all it took to bring this young man’s life to an end. That was all it took in 2014 for a raging mob to burn alive a Christian couple, both of them brick kiln workers, and leave their three young children orphaned. That is all it takes in today’s Pakistan to destroy lives, uproot families or entire minority communities from their homes. Even the mentally handicapped have not been spared the fury of the ‘righteous’.
Although in far too many instances, the perpetrators have been let off, in some more recent cases — notably the murders of Mashal and Kumara — severe punishments were handed down. And yet, the bloodletting in the name of faith has not stopped. Punishment has clearly not been a deterrent. Nor has the law against blasphemy prevented vigilante killings. According to a study, 84 people were extrajudicially killed on allegations of blasphemy by March 2021 and around 1,450 people accused of the crime.
Turning back the tide will take a Herculean effort, one that requires the state to abjure the strategy of using religion for political ends. Recent signs are not encouraging. But unless it is done, this society will continue to devour its own.
Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2023
LSM decline
NEW large-scale manufacturing data, published by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, shows that, in keeping with the trend over the last six months, big industry output decreased by 11.59pc in February from a year ago. Overall, the LSM sector, which contributes one-tenth to the national output, has shown a year-over-year decline of 5.56pc in the first eight months of the present fiscal as factories close down or slash production because of raw material shortages caused by supply chain disruptions, increased energy prices, steep currency depreciation, rising interest costs, and, last but not the least, contraction in domestic and international demand. As the State Bank stated in its last monetary policy statement, the contraction in industrial output continues to reflect the broad-based slowdown in economic activities. LSM contraction could accelerate further in the remaining four months of the fiscal year as the factors pulling down the manufacturing sector continue to worsen. This is reflected in the constantly falling sales of automobiles, cement and steel as well as plunging textile and clothing exports, etc. Pharmaceutical companies have been among the businesses worst affected.
The slowdown is not confined to manufacturing. Agriculture is also exhibiting worrying signs of slowing growth. Cotton arrivals have slumped 34pc when compared to the previous harvest, and the prediction is that the wheat production target won’t be achieved. The resulting cotton and food imports will put additional pressure on the scarce foreign currency reserves and deteriorating exchange rate going forward. Thus, it isn’t surprising to see multilateral lenders revise down their GDP growth forecasts to a mere 0.4-0.6pc and increase unemployment projections to 7pc as a result of massive industrial layoffs under the presently dire conditions. According to some economists, the country could experience negative growth and unemployment may rise to a record 10pc in the current fiscal. Business confidence is at its lowest because of government policies that are choking the economy through demand compression and import restrictions. However, it will be naïve to expect a politically beleaguered, weak government to reverse these policies and risk being blamed for a default in a highly polarised political environment — especially with elections just a few months away. It will more likely continue to suppress domestic demand and imports to avoid a ‘formal’ default even if the long-awaited crucial bailout deal with the IMF materialises.
Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2023
Malnourished children
ALTHOUGH the waters of 2022’s devastating floods have receded, the long-term impacts of the climate event continue to haunt the victims, particularly children. According to the UN, the number of malnourished children in the flood-affected areas has increased greatly, even though malnourishment was already prevalent before the deluge. A UN survey says that one-third of youngsters between six to 23 months suffer from moderate acute malnutrition, while 14pc of infants are exposed to acute severe malnutrition, which can be deadly. UN officials say that before the floods, child wasting was quite high, but that after the deluge “emergency levels” are being witnessed, especially in Sindh and Balochistan. Sadly, even before the floods worsened the situation, Pakistan was fighting an uphill battle against child malnutrition. Unicef has termed the situation “quite dire”, with wasting “heavily prevalent” and some 10m youngsters suffering from stunting.
The state needs to address the nutritional needs of vulnerable children urgently, for as UN experts have noted, the damage to health caused by malnutrition may be irreversible. The UN says $5.5m have been allocated for food security interventions, but more funds are needed. While the economy may be in a tailspin, and economic conditions abroad are also experiencing turbulence, thus affecting donor inflows, funds must be cut from other non-essential heads and channelled towards children and adults in flood-affected regions, who must have enough to eat. Even though Ramazan is coming to a close, zakat funds and other charitable contributions made during the holy month can be tapped to address children’s immediate nutritional needs. Moreover, the power elite must take time from their palace intrigues to come up with a long-term plan to address the menace of child malnutrition, and give our youngsters a chance to live a better tomorrow. In fact, the general health, education and rehabilitation needs of the flood victims should not be forgotten in the web of crises.
Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2023