Fighting fire
DEATH traps litter the country’s most vertical city of Karachi. Commercial and residential buildings in the latter are haphazardly planned and fitted with inconsequential wherewithal to prevent or fight fires, boosting the chances of infernos erupting in the metropolis. The authorities have consistently failed to control the mushroom growth of multistorey structures or to take action against architects and builders flouting fire and safety regulations. This was underscored by town planners, engineers and experts present at a fire safety symposium organised by the Fire Protection Association of Pakistan on Wednesday. They said that some 90pc of Karachi’s structures — residential, commercial and industrial — were without fire prevention and firefighting systems, which was “criminal negligence” perpetrated by regulatory bodies on the city’s teeming millions. In fact, as recently as last week, a high-rise blaze on I.I. Chundrigar Road left a woman injured.Meanwhile, in 2022, according to a Fire Brigade Department report, Karachi witnessed as many as 2,081 fire incidents.
Karachi’s history offers many horrors; the ghastliest was the Baldia factory arson in 2012 — a deliberate firetrap where victims succumbed to smoke inhalation, suffocation and severe burns. But even that did not force anyone out of their stupor to notice the perils that fires pose to humans and assets. It is high time provincial governments sent notices to properties, builders, architects and planners for non-compliance with fire procedures. Moreover, newly built houses, shops and buildings should be subject to regular inspections so that fire rules are not flouted; fire alarms, sprinklers and other equipment have to become mandatory, with weekly fire drills, especially in densely populated localities and labour-intensive industries. But fire tragedies are impossible to tackle unless there is an abundance of overhauled fire brigades, firefighters and safety gear. Apathy will keep long-running questions, and pain, ablaze. Rulers would be well advised to prioritise people’s safety with a firm eye on a significant drop in fire emergencies.
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2023
Deadly business
TWO recent reports in foreign media outlets have shed more light on India’s shadowy business of targeting dissidents and alleged enemies on foreign soil. The Intercept reported that — based on apparently leaked Intelligence Bureau documents — India, through its RAW spy agency, was running a network in Pakistan specifically to eliminate Khalistani and Kashmiri activists and fighters. The outlet’s scoop comes in the aftermath of the Hardeep Singh Nijjar murder; Canadian authorities had said the pro-Khalistan activist’s June killing in Vancouver was linked to Indian intelligence operatives. Lending further credence to The Intercept’s report was a story in Britain’s Financial Times, in which the paper said that the American authorities had thwarted a plan to kill US-based Sikh activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. The report adds that the Americans had sent a diplomatic warning to India over New Delhi’s apparent link to the plot to harm the Sikh activist. Coming back to The Intercept story, quoting the IB documents, the outlet gave extensive details of RAW’s apparent attempts to neutralise Khalistani activists in Pakistan, as well as the murders of a number of ex-jihadis once active in held Kashmir. It also claimed that Indian agents based in Afghanistan and the UAE were active in these acts of subterfuge.
It appears that India has taken a page or two out of the Israeli playbook, for Tel Aviv, over several decades, has assassinated dozens of Palestinian, Lebanese and Iranian fighters and officials in various foreign locales. Yet while the Israelis might have mastered the dark arts, India seems to have overplayed its hand in several instances, especially by assassinating, or attempting to kill, dissidents in the West. Pakistan has long blamed its eastern neighbour of indulging in destabilising activities, and officials have also sent a related dossier of these activities to the UN. The Kulbhushan Jadhav affair — in which the Indian spy was picked up from Balochistan in 2016 — is perhaps the most well-known case of this kind. Though the Western states pamper India as part of their geopolitical stratagems, it will be difficult for them to tolerate New Delhi’s malign activities on their soil, which are in essence an affront to their sovereignty. These revelations also support Pakistan’s criticism of India’s roguish behaviour. India can literally get away with murder domestically, but it cannot be allowed to create mischief overseas.
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2023
Skewed priorities
WHEN it comes to the allocation of scarce resources during times of unprecedented adversity, elected representatives responsible for making the government’s spending decisions are expected to take much greater care to protect the public good before everything else.
Indeed, in any civilised nation, this would be considered a basic principle of responsible, moral leadership. Not so in Pakistan, where the country’s economic blight continues to be made much worse thanks to a leadership class whose self-centredness knows no bounds.
A report in these pages, published on Thursday, has shone a spotlight on how the former PDM-led government rigged the system to ensure its leaders would continue to benefit politically from public funds well after they had been replaced by the caretaker set-up in August.
It also seems that the interim set-up was more than happy to facilitate them, allowing the disproportionate spending of public money on discretionary projects to continue without checks and balances.
According to data released by the Planning Commission, our parliamentarians’ pet schemes consumed the largest chunk of total spending on the Federal Public Sector Development Programme in the July to October 2023 period.
The numbers are staggering when one considers the clear conflict of interest they represent. According to the data, these pet schemes had, by the end of October, already consumed more than 30pc of the Rs90bn budget allocated to them for the entire year.
For a clearer idea of how skewed this makes the government’s spending priorities appear, compare this to the PSDP programme for all of AJK, Gilgit-Baltistan and ex-Fata, which consumed only 15pc of its budget within the same period.
For even more context, consider that the disbursements authorised for all ministries, divisions and corporations in the same period amounted to just 8.6pc of their yearly budget. One would naturally ask why those controlling the nation’s purse strings felt these discretionary schemes needed such urgent attention.
The answer, of course, is elections. These schemes have traditionally been used as a tool by politicians hoping to build goodwill within their constituencies. Considering the gross failure of the PDM government in stabilising the economy, politicians have been desperate to show their voters they can ‘deliver’, which is why resort seems to have been made to this tactic.
However, during a time when the vast majority of the country is struggling under unprecedented economic difficulties, it is galling for the exchequer to be exploited as an election fund.
Major infrastructural projects have been shelved over the past two years owing to financing shortfalls; money cannot, in these conditions, be sunk into hyper-localised projects simply to get some people more votes. The ECP must take note and necessary action to prevent the abuse of public funds.
Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2023