Crucial cash
THE Asian Development Bank will give Pakistan $1.2bn, including $400m for budgetary support, for financing various federal and provincial projects. The World Bank has also approved $350m to fund a scheme to strengthen fiscal management and promote competitiveness for sustained and inclusive growth. This is good news for an economy in dire straits, with foreign reserves running low. The disbursement of these funds, along with the release of $700m by the IMF under the $3bn Stand-by Arrangement, is expected to somewhat boost reserves over the next several months after a near dry first half of the current fiscal year. Official inflows during the first five months of this fiscal year have stood at $6.4bn — equal to a quarter of annual financing needs.
The promised cash from multilateral lenders is crucial to keeping the country’s economy afloat, and maintaining price and currency stability in the near to medium term, considering the high external funding requirements amid low reserves. In a recent report on Pakistan, the global credit rating agency Fitch had pointed out that “projected external funding needs will continue to exceed reserves for at least the next few years, while broader measures of net reserves are deeply negative”. With its external funding requirements set to remain high and its reserves low, the agency added, Pakistan will remain dependent on the IMF as well as bilateral and multilateral support. The materialising of this support will depend largely on Pakistan’s ability to tackle long-standing structural distortions in its economy after the next elections. The current crisis offers the country an opportunity to fix its economy. The World Bank has warned that the failure to use it would risk plunging the country back into stop-and-go economic cycles. Multilateral budget financing has remained suspended for long due to Pakistan’s strained relations with the Fund. Policy missteps or political volatility should not be allowed to jeopardise this renewed opportunity again.
Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2023
Forgotten citizens
IN a recent revelation that should stir our conscience, Justice Project Pakistan disclosed that over 14,000 Pakistani citizens are languishing in prisons worldwide. It is a staggering figure that underscores a profound human rights concern and highlights how vulnerable Pakistani migrants get caught in the complex web of international legal systems. The bulk of these prisoners — 58pc — are detained in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, on charges ranging from drug offences to theft. This is more than a mere statistic; it represents thousands of individuals in despair, their stories often obscured by distance and diplomatic inertia. The situation demands reflection on multiple fronts. Firstly, there is an urgent need to address the issues that lead to such precarious situations. The Pakistani diaspora, driven by economic necessity, often falls prey to exploitation and legal entanglements in foreign lands. Secondly, the data, alarming as it is, points to a large gap in our diplomatic engagements and legal frameworks. While Pakistan has prisoner transfer agreements with countries like the UAE, the effectiveness of such arrangements is questionable, given the continuing plight of citizens abroad. The lack of access to legal rights, impartial translators, and adequate legal counsel worsens matters, often leading to disproportionately harsh punishments, including the death penalty.
JPP’s comprehensive database is a laudable step towards shedding light on this issue. It is time the government leveraged this data to formulate evidence-based policies and strengthened consular protection. Ensuring that our citizens abroad are aware of and can exercise their legal rights is not just a matter of diplomatic duty but a moral imperative. Moreover, many of these prisoners, especially those detained for drug offences, are victims themselves — coerced into trafficking. Their plight reflects a broader issue of global criminal networks exploiting the vulnerable. It calls for a holistic approach, combining legal aid, international cooperation on criminal justice, and socioeconomic steps at home to prevent such exploitation. Having recently marked International Migrant Workers’ Day, let us not forget what thousands of our compatriots face in foreign prisons. Their predicament deserves more than just a cursory acknowledgement. It demands a sustained and empathetic response from all stakeholders involved — from policymakers to diplomats, and from civil society to the international community. Their ordeal is a test of our collective conscience and resolve. Will we rise to the challenge?
Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2023
Flies on the wall
FOR the past few years, dubiously recorded private conversations of public figures have been released to the media, or uploaded on social media, in an effort to sully reputations. Victims of this detestable practice have included people from the sporting world, judges and politicians including prime ministers, and even their relatives. The million-rupee question is: who is responsible?
The Islamabad High Court attempted to answer this query while hearing petitions related to illegal wiretapping. During Wednesday’s hearing of former first lady Bushra Bibi’s case, the attorney general told the court that the ISI, FIA and IB are “not allowed to record any conversations”, adding that if any government agency was involved in this practice, “it is doing so illegally”.
Further, the IHC was reportedly told that the ISI cannot trace the source of the audio leaks. Other intelligence agencies like the IB and FIA, too, have previously denied knowledge of the source of similar leaks. So if the nation’s top agencies cannot trace the culprits, then who can?
It is common practice the world over for intelligence agencies to monitor suspected hostile actors and foreign agents who intend to harm the country. To do so is no doubt necessary — while following SOPs to avoid violating the rights of innocent people. But to extend these powers to secretly record personal conversations of public figures and private citizens cannot be justified.
What national security objectives are served by illegally recording personal calls or messages, and then releasing these, initiating a frenzy in the media and cyberspace? In fact, the policy of electronic eavesdropping by powerful quarters is a continuation of the practice of maintaining ‘files’ on public figures, and releasing these as and when ‘required’.
As for those reacting gleefully to their opponents’ dirty laundry being aired publicly through such means, they should remember that the same weapon can be deployed against them at some point. Both Imran Khan and Shehbaz Sharif can testify to this, as the conversations of both gentlemen were leaked from the time they were in the Prime Minister’s Office.
The IHC has said it could appoint local and foreign experts in case the state failed to provide information about the leaks. The solution could lie in appointing an empowered commission to investigate the source of the leaks.
Forensic experts, as well as those familiar with the technology in question, can be brought on board to trace the culprits, and help end this vile practice. Illegally recording and releasing personal conversations has no place in a democratic polity, and is more suited to police states. If the state does not want to be seen as complicit in these shady activities, it must endeavour to unveil the source of the leaks.
Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2023