Dawn Editorial 24 February 2021
Return of militancy
A WORRYING trend observed in Pakistan’s northern areas over the last several months saw a dramatic escalation on Monday. In a brazen daytime attack, masked gunmen shot dead four female vocational trainers travelling in a van near Mirali, North Waziristan district. While the driver was injured, another trainer escaped unhurt.
The victims were working for a technical institute in Bannu to impart skill development to local women. Coincidently, the attack took place on the fourth anniversary of the launch of Operation Raddul Fasaad that followed on the heels of the kinetic operations that had successfully destroyed the terrorist infrastructure in the tribal areas. Based mainly on intelligence-based operations, Raddul Fasaad tackled the tentacles of militancy that had spread throughout the country. At a press conference on Monday, DG ISPR Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar said that more than 375,000 IBOs had been carried out in Pakistan over the past four years to curb urban terrorism and dismantle remaining militant networks.
Nothing, however, quite underscores the return of violent extremism as does the mass murder of innocent women working for the good of society. And make no mistake, this act, the very audacity of it, was meant to send a message: the militants are confident enough to again carry out the kind of attacks that spread terror in large swathes of the country not too long ago. The signs have been there for some time. There has been an unmistakable uptick in targeted killings of civilians as well as deadly clashes of militants with security personnel in the tribal areas.
The reunification in Afghanistan of several splinter groups with the TTP that, according to a recent UN report, was overseen by Al Qaeda, have heightened the terrorist threat in the region. The same document also held the TTP responsible for more than 100 cross-border attacks between July and October 2020. While no one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack on Monday, the KP police believe the TTP are the perpetrators. However, the modus operandi also tallies with the obscurantist agenda of the Shura-i-Mujahideen. An extremist group based in North Waziristan, it has threatened music shop owners, barbers, etc and, in one of its recent flyers, warned women to desist from working with NGOs.
The fact is, extremism is a hydra-headed monster that needs a sustained, multifaceted approach to vanquish. In that, we have fallen woefully short. Efforts at mounting a counter-narrative, which was critical to secure the gains made on the battlefield, have been piecemeal and inconsistent. Paigham-i-Pakistan, that much-vaunted unified message against extremism signed by 1,829 Islamic scholars in 2018, looked good on paper but was never owned by the religious community. The process cannot be forced or imposed from above: the state must strengthen the hand of progressive forces that have a stake in the local communities. It is the only long-term solution.
FDI decrease
THE more permanent and non-debt-creating FDI inflows to Pakistan have shrunk by a whopping 27pc to a meagre $1.1bn in the first seven months of the ongoing fiscal to January from $1.6bn received in the same period in the last financial year, according to new State Bank data. The inflows during January also dropped to $192.7m, down by 12pc when compared to $219m in the same month of the previous fiscal. The decline in FDI is mainly attributed to the almost 20pc plunge in net inflows from China to $402.8m, and outflows of just below $26m to Norway during the period July to January. China, nevertheless, retains its position as the largest investor in Pakistan followed by the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Malta, the UK and the US. Much of the FDI received during this fiscal has gone into coal and hydel power, the financial sector, and, oil and gas exploration.
The FDI inflows are crucial for technology transfer, improvement in business management practices, competition, exports, employment and deeper integration with the world economy. But FDI to Pakistan has been on the decline since 2017 after Chinese investment in the power and transport sectors under the CPEC initiative started to dry up. According to UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2020, FDI stock declined sharply from $40.8bn to $34.8bn in two years by 2019, entailing a hefty net outflow of $6bn. Consequently, we have seen a record increase in our foreign debt both in absolute terms and as a ratio of the size of the economy. Pakistan has never been a favoured destination for foreign investors because of a number of factors. Barring the record-high investment of $5.6bn and $5.4bn in 2007 and 2008, annual FDI inflows have accounted for less than 1pc of the nation’s GDP although other states comparable to Pakistan have attracted close to 3pc of the size of their economies. While Pakistan, to a large extent, has successfully addressed the security challenge and energy shortages — which have kept foreign investors from betting on this country in recent years — it has clearly not been enough to make Pakistan an attractive destination for foreign companies. The government also needs to tackle other challenges including a burdensome investment environment, policy inconsistency, an unskilled labour force as well as the lack of developed industrial infrastructure to woo foreign investors for sustained and rapid growth and a more stable external sector.
Myanmar protests
THE protests against Myanmar’s Feb 1 military coup have refused to die down, with hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets against the generals’ power grab. The coup was triggered by the military’s lack of acceptance of recent election results, in which the Aung San Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy did well. While already controlling parliament through reserved seats for uniformed lawmakers, the generals were apparently not happy with the growing power of the civilians and decided to strike, citing electoral “irregularities”, though no serious proof of election fraud has been uncovered. It seems the junta did not expect such a public reaction to the coup. After the passage of nearly a month since the takeover, the protests have only gathered steam even though there have been fatalities, while the generals have ominously warned of “loss of life” if the “confrontation” continues.
Much of the world community, led by the UN, has condemned the military coup and called for a swift return to civilian rule. “Release the prisoners. End the violence. Respect human rights”, the UN secretary general has said. It is unfortunate that much of Myanmar’s post-colonial history has been marred by military interference in matters of governance, with the civilians frequently sidelined by those in uniform. This has resulted in the retardation of Myanmar’s political system, as evidenced by multiple ethnic and religious conflicts within the country. Ms Suu Kyi was hardly an ideal leader, her pro-democracy credentials severely tarnished by her cold silence as the military butchered Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya in a merciless campaign. However, the fact is that the country’s problems have been exacerbated by the military’s lengthy rule, and it is only through the continuation of the democratic process that all of Myanmar’s people — regardless of ethnic background and religious belief — can expect justice. The junta should return to the barracks, respect the popular will and let the political process continue in Myanmar, instead of training its guns on its own people.
