THE robust growth in large-scale industrial output since July last year has generated a kind of economic optimism across the country. Figures from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics for large-scale manufacturing output during March show that the large industry expanded by a robust 22.4pc year-on-year. This hefty increase in the LSM index, however, is because of low base effect on account of lockdown restrictions imposed last year to stop the spread of Covid-19. Going forward, we may even see a higher growth in the LSMI, thanks again to the low base effect. The low interest rate environment is also likely to help sustain growth in industrial production. Still, it may be noted that the LSMI has posted negative growth on a month-on-month basis for two months running. In March alone, the LSM output contracted by 7.7pc owing to the decline in sugar, wheat and grain milling, diesel, etc.
Even though LSM has posted year-on-year growth of 9pc from July to March, the declining month-on-month output underlines the fact that industrial recovery has been narrowly based as it is driven mainly by automobiles, construction, textiles, food and pharmaceuticals. In other words, LSM growth indicates the revival of economic activities in the country but also remains weak and is dependent on only a few sectors. The economy is recovering but not creating enough jobs. The rapid spread of infections in recent months and the slow roll-out of the Covid vaccine have again added to the uncertainty about the future. If this third wave of pandemic lingers, or is followed by a fourth one, it will be devastating for the nascent and fragile economic recovery seen in the last few months. A Dun & Bradstreet survey shows consumer confidence sliding on pandemic concerns and worries over loss of jobs, shrinking purchasing power and rising price inflation. It is only a matter of time before declining consumer confidence starts to infect the investors’ sentiments unless the spread of the disease is contained fast and effectively.
Palestine bloodbath
ONCE more, Palestine is bathed in blood, its people left to mourn and carry the tiny coffins of its children. While some would classify the current violence as a ‘conflict’ between Israelis and Palestinians, it is more of a one-sided assault on the Palestinian people by Tel Aviv’s war machine.
Months, if not years, of Palestinian anger had been brewing, with Israel shamelessly grabbing the Arabs’ land and humiliating them repeatedly. The pressure cooker exploded when Jewish settlers staged provocative marches in occupied East Jerusalem, started encroaching upon Palestinian homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of the holy city, and finally, when Israeli troops stormed and desecrated the revered Al Aqsa mosque. In response, Palestinians took to the streets across the country, while Hamas, which rules Gaza, started firing rockets at Israel. Tel Aviv’s response has been a merciless bombardment of the coastal strip in which over 180 people have been killed, 55 of them children. In the midst of this slaughter, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to “continue to respond forcefully”.
And what has been the global response to this latest outrage? At the governmental level, there has been mostly silence, or half-hearted appeals to stop the ‘violence’. However, thousands of conscientious people across the world, including in Europe and the Americas, have taken to the streets to denounce Israel’s ruthless barrage. Meanwhile, the self-declared champions of human rights keep trumpeting their view that Israel has a right to ‘self-defence’. This includes the Biden administration and many in Europe. In fact, Austria had raised the Israeli banner ‘in solidarity’.
One wonders whether the right of self-defence allows a country to butcher toddlers and the disabled, as Tel Aviv has done in Gaza. Moreover, Israel on Saturday bombed a Gaza building housing the offices of Al Jazeera, the Associated Press and other media outlets, an act the UN secretary general says “violates international law”. Clearly, Israel is trying to prevent the world media from reporting on its crimes, hence the direct targeting of bureaux under the guise of hitting back at Hamas.
And what of the Muslim world? It is evident that the collective consciousness of the vast majority of Arab and Muslim states died a long time ago. As Palestinians bravely face Israeli terror, the OIC and Arab League are doing little other than issuing statements. Those Arab states that only recently made public their relationship with Israel have done little to convince their friends in Tel Aviv to stop their butchery. The targeting of civilians anywhere is unacceptable. But Israel has been murdering non-combatants for decades, and getting away with it thanks to its powerful patrons. Will the international community step in to stop this mass murder? Or do Palestinians, including their children, not count when the high and mighty wax eloquent about human rights and the rule of law?
Registering madressahs
DURING the past two decades, several attempts by successive governments to standardise and regularise madressahs have met with little success. Religious leaders in the country have staunchly resisted any government attempt to oversee their institutes. The present government too is making an effort to do so, but it remains to be seen whether it is able to achieve this monumental feat. However, it has recently emerged that since late 2019, around 5,000 seminaries have registered with the federal education ministry’s Directorate General of Religious Education. The directorate has 16 regional offices that coordinate and plan the registration process of the seminaries in their jurisdictions to help them set up bank accounts, admit foreign students, introduce vocational training and make the transition to mainstream education. The authorities hope that 5,000 more seminaries will be registered with the DGRE by the end of the year.
The education authorities believe there are 35,000 seminaries in the country. However, according to some estimates, their numbers could be as high as 60,000, which we would mean thousands of madressahs would not be under any kind of scrutiny. Over 25,000 of the 35,000 known seminaries are said to be affiliated with five designated madressah boards of different sects. A number of madressahs are reportedly registered with the provincial governments, but as cooperative societies under colonial-era legislation. Though the DGRE chief has claimed that all factions of the religious leadership and the five designated madressah boards were on board, the relatively slow pace of registration of madressahs since 2019 indicates there is resistance to government regulations. It is noteworthy that Maulana Fazlur Rahman, who heads a large network of madressahs in the country, and representatives of Minhajul Quran, which is headed by Dr Tahirul Qadri, were not part of the consultation process with the DGRE. But, if matters progress smoothly, the reforms would enable monetary regulation by the government, curb terrorism financing and discourage connections with extremist outfits. Though not all madressahs harbour extremists, it takes only a handful to undermine state authority and inflict violence on society, drawing concern both from within the country and internationally. Secondly, madressah students would be able to avail mainstream education benefits and be more prepared for the professional world. However, for this exercise to be effective, consistency is needed in pursuing the required changes but in a manner that does not alienate the religious leadership whose cooperation is crucial to madressah reforms.
