Unliveable city
KARACHI makes it to the news for all the wrong reasons, with high crime, crumbling infrastructure and pollution topping the list. Perhaps, then, it is no surprise that the Economist Intelligence Unit has ranked the Sindh capital amongst the least liveable cities of the world. Karachi has come in at an unenviable 169th position out of 173 cities in 2023. The metropolis has consistently featured at the bottom of this ranking for the past several years. There is a background behind repeatedly earning this dubious distinction. Despite being the nation’s economic engine, Karachi has, over the decades, gotten the rough end of the stick from both the federal and provincial governments. Perhaps the rot started in the Ayub era, when the ‘field marshal,’ not known to be much of an admirer of the city, decided to shift the capital further north. In the decades since, Karachi has suffered as its population has swelled, and its urban sprawl has spread exponentially, while the state has not been able to keep pace where providing facilities and services is concerned. The result has been the transformation of this city into a hard-to-navigate urban jungle that ranks near the bottom of liveable cities.
Perhaps this presents a major opportunity for the newly elected Mayor of Karachi Murtaza Wahab to change these negative perceptions. This can best be done not through PR campaigns, but by giving Karachi the funds it needs and the empowered local government it requires to transform itself into a liveable 21st-century megacity. While it is true that large swathes of the city are not under the KMC’s control, and are run by federal organisations and the military, the mayor can make a strong case for regaining administrative control of the entire city by running in an exemplary manner those areas that fall within his jurisdiction. Considering that his party runs the provincial government, Mayor Wahab should have no excuses about lacking the power to manage Karachi.
Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2023
Only a ‘breather’
LEST we forget amid the euphoria over the new $3bn IMF loan, Pakistan, with 23 bailouts, has been the most frequent customer of the lender of last resort for many years.
And we’re likely to maintain this distinction for the next several years even if we start right away fixing our economy’s structural problems, which take us to the brink and the IMF every few years.
The fact that Pakistan has completed only one programme successfully — that too without fully achieving its targets — inspires little confidence in the capability and resolve of our leadership to take us to the ‘finish line’ under the new nine-month facility either.
They have repeatedly demonstrated their impatience with shortcuts to growth for political mileage, breaching the agreements with the lender midway.
That said, the critical importance of the new IMF bailout for the country’s flagging economy can’t be overstated. The IMF board signing off on the loan has already brightened up the economy.
Fears of a sovereign default before the end of 2023 have receded, and Pakistan’s dollar bonds have rallied rapidly since the initial approval of the agreement on June 29.
The rupee has strengthened against the dollar, the stock market is jubilant, Fitch has upgraded Pakistan’s credit rating by a notch, and the Saudis and Emiratis have deposited the promised $2bn and $1bn, respectively, to shore up SBP’s forex reserves.
The government is dubbing these developments as indicators of economic recovery, claiming the ‘hard times’ are over. Well, yes, the hard times may be behind us for the moment. But does this bailout signify the end of our problems? It doesn’t.
It gives us a few stable months to conduct the elections and service external debt over the next six months, but doesn’t really change the fundamentals of the economy such as insufficient tax revenues, low exports, import-based consumption, and so on.
However, it can help us get back on our feet if we use this ‘breather’ as a bridge to broad-based reforms for longer-term debt sustainability and growth. We’re in the deepest ever crisis of our own making and living on borrowed money and time.
We’ve avoided tough decisions for too long, hoping the world would bail us out. No more. There is no way around reforms. No matter how painful they may be, it’d still be worth it in the end.
Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2023
Menaced by terrorism
THERE is no mistaking the hydra-headed monster of militancy that Pakistan is facing. The last few days have been particularly illustrative of the evolving nature of this multi-dimensional threat. On Wednesday, two separate attacks — both by little-known groups — took place in Balochistan’s Sui and Zhob areas, resulting in the martyrdom of 12 soldiers and a civilian. Seven militants were also killed in the incidents. The Sui attack was claimed by a Baloch insurgent outfit while the other, an assault on a military installation in Zhob Cantt, was claimed by the Tehreek-i-Jihad Pakistan. There was speculation about the latter being a splinter group of the TTP, which denied this; some are now suggesting it is an independent group ‘inspired’ by the Islamic State’s Khorasan chapter. The shape-shifting nature of the militant landscape intensifies the existing challenge. According to a recent report by the Centre for Research and Security Studies, the 267 fatalities of security personnel recorded in the first two quarters of 2023 make up nearly 93pc of their fatalities during the entire preceding year.
Meanwhile, KP police recently shed some light on another category of terrorism: target killing. Its counter-terrorism department has claimed that IS-K is behind the murders of several Islamic scholars as well as members of minority communities in Peshawar, adding that some 60 IS-K members broke out of prison after the Afghan Taliban’s return to power in Kabul and managed to enter Pakistan. At least three Sikhs, an equal number of Muslim clerics and a Christian have been mowed down in the city since February 2023. The victims’ profile illustrates how no one is safe from violent religious extremists: those in their cross hairs can be from minority communities or from the majority faith. All it takes is a twisted mindset that rejects diversity and freedom of religion so vehemently that it does not even consider sacrosanct the right to life itself.
According to the KP CTD, it is closing in on a group of 15 to 20 IS-K militants in order to put it out of action. This cannot be done soon enough. The killing of IS-K leader Sanaullah Ghafari in Afghanistan last month by the Afghan Taliban is likely to be only a temporary setback for an organisation known for its resilience. And with the Kabul regime refusing to take coercive action against other terrorist organisations — their ideological brothers-in-arms — operating from their soil, attacks in Pakistan may escalate further. As per the CRSS report, one security operation was carried out every second day on average in the first six months of this year; at the same time though, more than one attack occurred every day. Pakistan and regional countries must impress upon the Afghan Taliban the absolute necessity of putting militants of all stripe out of business. Otherwise, an endless, Sisyphean task lies ahead.
Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2023