Dawn Editorial 2 November 2020

America’s choice

THE United States is gearing up for a poll verdict on Nov 3 in what is arguably one of the most crucial and unconventional elections in the country’s history. Although the world doesn’t have to wait long for the results of the poll, whoever becomes the next US president — Republican candidate Donald Trump or Democratic candidate Joe Biden — it is evident that this election is taking place at a very critical moment in history.
Americans have to make a critical decision that will have significant repercussions for not just national politics but also global issues such as the Covid-19 pandemic, superpower relations and the climate emergency. Excitement is at an all-time high and can be gauged by the record number of voters who turned up in states where early voting is taking place. Official tallies suggest that more than 80m Americans have already cast their ballot, a turnout which sets the stage for America’s highest participation rate in over a century — all against the backdrop of the pandemic, an economic recession and the country’s deeply polarised and acrimonious politics.
In the months leading up to the election, the American people have been divided over whether they want to see the current president — and his performance over the last four years — continue. But as we await their choice, it is important to reflect on how disastrous and divisive the Trump presidency has been.
Mr Trump and his administration have ignited fires on multiple fronts and have been on the wrong side of far too many rights issues. His term has seen unprecedented discrimination against immigrants, heated racial tensions and the highest number of Covid-19 cases and deaths in the world. On the foreign policy front, Mr Trump has escalated tensions with China, pulled out of a nuclear deal with Iran and unsuccessfully tried to reinvent Middle East politics. In one particularly shocking moment soon after he was elected, Mr Trump pulled out of the 2015 Paris Agreement — a culmination of his persistent denial of the climate threat which has far-reaching consequences for humanity.
The tense environment in the US is not likely to ease in the coming days — especially in the event that Mr Trump does not win, as he has categorically talked about electoral fraud and said he won’t commit to leaving the White House even if he loses. Not only has he said he suspects fraud at the polls, he has criticised mail-in ballots and cast doubt over their legitimacy.
By sowing distrust in the result ahead of election day on Nov 3, Mr Trump is setting the stage for a potential constitutional crisis that America has never witnessed before. It is in this charged atmosphere that Americans are voting to decide the future of their country and also the world as it confronts huge challenges to the environment, democracy, journalism, free speech and identity.

 

 

Rao Anwar’s trial

THE trial of retired SSP Malir Rao Anwar in the Naqeebullah Mehsud murder case is emblematic of a dysfunctional state where those with the right connections can seemingly commit heinous acts with impunity. In a recent development, yet another prosecution witness has retracted his statement in court. It was nearly three years ago on Jan 13, 2018, that the 27-year-old was gunned down in cold blood along with three other individuals in an abandoned farmhouse in Karachi’s Malir district. The police declared that the three men were Taliban militants who had been killed in an ‘encounter’. The reality was quite different. Naqeebullah was an aspiring model; in fact none of the victims even had a criminal record. Their murder was the latest in a hideous saga of police brutality in which Rao Anwar played a leading role. Under him, Malir had been the staging ground for an improbable number of police encounters in the past few years; so much so that the cop was often referred to as an ‘encounter specialist’. According to the police’s own record, it emerged later that Rao Anwar had been involved in 444 extrajudicial killings. The situation was all the more remarkable for the fact that no cops ever seemed to sustain any injuries in these ‘shoot-outs’ and yet, there was not a single investigation into them.
Naqeebullah’s murder, however, touched a nerve. Public pressure, led by his friends and family — most of all by his dignified, stoic father, Mohammed Khan — led to Rao Anwar and 17 other cops finally being charged with the killing in March 2019. But by then it had become clear that the now retired police official was above the law, as unaccountable as his alleged backers. Instead of being detained in jail, he was confined for a short time to the comfort of his own home, conveniently declared a sub-jail on flimsy pretexts. Whenever he arrived for a court hearing, he did so without handcuffs and was given full protocol — a far cry from the treatment that ‘ordinary’ accused are meted out. In July, two key prosecution witnesses turned hostile. Naqeebullah’s father had been receiving threats for pursuing the case; in the end, he died of cancer in December 2019, still awaiting justice. Rao Anwar’s trial could have been a chance to set right a terrible injustice, and chart a new course for the police. Sadly, it seems that day is still far off.

 

 

Fertiliser subsidy

THE federal government’s decision to allow a subsidy of Rs5.4bn on diammonium phosphate, or DAP, fertiliser will help reduce the input costs of wheat farmers. According to the finance ministry, the government has approved a subsidy of Rs1,000 per 50kg bag of DAP, which will reduce its price by 25pc. The DAP subsidy is part of the prime minister’s special package for the growers to be approved by the federal cabinet next Tuesday. The subsidy was announced two days after some ministers raised concerns over the rising prices of food, especially of wheat flour, at a recent cabinet meeting and the absence of an administrative response. The total value of the package is estimated to be Rs24bn and it includes an increase in the wheat support price from Rs1,400 per 40kg to Rs1,600 per 40kg and subsidy on fungicides and weedicides in addition to DAP. The fertiliser subsidy will be paid from the Rs50bn earmarked for the agriculture sector in the Rs1.2tr fiscal stimulus package given to fight the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Only a fifth of the money allocated for agriculture could be spent until now.
It is encouraging to see the government realising the impact of consistently rising input costs on farmers’ meagre incomes and spiralling food inflation on consumers. The actions being taken will help the growers cut the overall cost of their inputs and boost their incomes. But it will not help control food prices surging since August last year. The solution to the higher food prices demands an overhaul of existing agriculture policies and investment in new high-yield technology. If the wheat growers, for example, are able to double their output per acre, it will not only halve their costs and substantially increase their incomes but also bring down wheat prices in the market. Also, the increased yields will spare a part of cultivable land under wheat for growing other value-added crops and vegetables. Thus the government should focus more on revamping policies than fiscally unsustainable subsidies.

 

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