Deadly journey
A RECENTLY released Human Rights Watch report makes shocking claims about deadly force used by Saudi border guards when dealing with mostly Ethiopian migrants trying to enter the kingdom through Yemen. It says that between March 2022 and June 2023 “hundreds” of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers were killed by Saudi forces. The document also details rampant abuse of migrants by both smugglers, as well as members of Yemen’s Houthi militia. HRW has based the report on eyewitness accounts, together with photographic and video evidence. The UN had last year released similar findings. Most Ethiopians trying to enter Saudi Arabia are economic migrants, but those fleeing conflict in their homeland are also making this perilous journey. While these individuals — including women and children — try to make the border crossing to find work in the kingdom’s prosperous cities, their dreams are cruelly cut short by trigger-happy border guards. They are also exposed to inhuman treatment by smugglers. Eyewitnesses told HRW that Saudi border forces opened fire on unarmed migrants, while several described savage beatings by guards after they were captured. Conditions in detention centres are reportedly squalid, while many women migrants said they were sexually assaulted by smugglers and other migrants. The Ethiopian foreign ministry has said a joint probe will be launched with Riyadh, while the official Saudi Press Agency has quoted a government source as terming the report “politicised and misleading”.
Migrants fleeing poverty and war the world over face similarly brutal conditions. For example, many European states have adopted cruel ‘pushback’ policies to prevent migrants from entering the continent. Instead of brushing aside the allegations, the issues raised by the HRW report need to be addressed by the Saudi state. Riyadh needs to investigate, and if the claims are established, those guilty should be punished, while a humane policy must be adopted to handle migration. All states have a right to control their borders, but not by violating fundamental rights.
Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2023
Danish proposal
A STRING of copycat burnings of the Holy Quran in various European states over the past several months by Islamophobic groups and individuals has created a great amount of resentment across the Muslim world. Though European governments argue that such reprehensible actions are protected by free speech conventions, Muslims clearly disagree, contending that attacking their sacred symbols falls under the ambit of hate crimes. Moreover, when questioning the Holocaust could be criminalised by much of the West, why can’t Islam’s sacred book and personalities be similarly protected, the argument goes. Now, there seems to be some positive movement in this regard, as the Danish government intends to present a bill in parliament that would ban the desecration of sacred scriptures, including Islam’s holy text. The Danish justice minister observed that Quran burnings are “fundamentally contemptuous”, while adding that the move was motivated by national security concerns. Sweden and the Netherlands are also reportedly considering similar moves.
It is hoped that the law is passed by the Danish parliament. The Foreign Office has welcomed the move, saying that acts of “religious hatred” must not be allowed “under the guise of freedom of expression”. There is also a precedent the Europeans can follow, as Finland disallows the desecration of sacred texts as a violation of its religious peace laws. Moreover, much of the Global South disagrees with disrespecting religious symbols, as two resolutions passed by the UN Human Rights Council and General Assembly show. Clearly even the Europeans realise — especially with the Holocaust denial laws — that there are red lines that should not be crossed. The intellectual arguments relating to free speech may sound impressive, but repeatedly attacking the beliefs of two billion people is plainly motivated by hate. In many cases those behind the acts of desecration are members of European far-right movements that wish to ‘cleanse’ their continent of Muslims, people of colour and immigrants. Only eight decades ago such forces unleashed a bloodbath in Europe targeting Jews and other minorities. Moreover, the desecration of sacred symbols fuels bigotry and anti-Western sentiment within Muslim societies. Instead of insulting and attacking the religious figures and books of others, the West, particularly Europe, should initiate a dialogue of cultures and civilisations based on respect and humility. Criminalising the desecration of the symbols of all faiths can be the first step in this direction.
Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2023
Flashpoint now
BLOATED electricity bills have triggered countrywide protests. Crushed by the spiking cost of living, hundreds of consumers took to the streets in most cities yesterday to give vent to their seething anger over growing incidence of indirect taxes in their electricity bills.
Some political parties joined them to cash in on the growing discontent. The interim government of Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar is also feeling the heat and has convened a meeting of power sector authorities today to find a way to provide some “relief” to frustrated power consumers.
How? It’s not yet clear.
The caretakers have little space to help inflation-stricken citizens without compromising on the fiscal goals of the present IMF programme, which would be disastrous for the economy, as it could make the multilateral lender suspend or terminate the programme.
The increasing price of electricity is essentially a governance and fiscal problem for which successive governments are to blame. On the one hand, the ruling classes have relied on heavy indirect taxes on fuels and power bills to pay for the state’s ballooning expenditure, instead of effectively taxing powerful lobbies like retailers, real estate and agriculture because of their political clout.
On the other hand, they’ve utterly failed to implement energy sector reforms to control growing theft and power and gas sector losses, and chosen instead to periodically increase prices to recover lost revenues from honest customers. It goes without saying that the surging fuel and energy costs are devastating the working-class and salaried households, as well as industry.
At least a third of the electricity bill is made up of taxes and other government charges. Likewise, almost a quarter of the petrol price consists of taxes and levies. The government can’t remove or even partially reduce these levies without an IMF waiver. At best, they can offer consumers the ‘facility’ of paying their bills in installments, as was decided by Shehbaz Sharif last year.
This is no solution though. It will only delay the calamity for the consumers. The toxic mix of inflation and economic recession over the last two years, coupled with inequitable tax policies, have brought households under renewed pressure.
Inflation, considered to be the most regressive tax on the poor-middle-income families, remains elevated at above 28pc. Fuel and food prices have hit the hardest as tens of millions of people scramble to find some way to survive. Unable to cope with the rising cost of living that is exacerbating inequalities in society, many are ready to risk their lives to leave this country.
With the authorities unlikely to change their bad fiscal and tax policies, and take tough decisions to reform the energy sector, working-class and salaried households can expect to face continued pain for a much longer time than the rulers would like us to believe.
Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2023