AFTER the launch of the Sehat Sahulat Programme last November in KP, and its extension in February enabling free medical treatment for all 6.7m families in the province, the PTI administration in Punjab has formally introduced the service in Sahiwal and Dera Ghazi Khan divisions. At a ceremony for the launch of these cards on Wednesday, the prime minister said that the health insurance scheme would meet the needs of the poor. Residents can avail free medical treatment of up to Rs720,000 at all public and private hospitals in the province, with the possibility of families obtaining additional treatment worth Rs300,000 if required. This is a game-changing initiative by the PTI government and the response so far in KP has been positive. Hospitals, both public and private, are reporting a larger inflow of patients who want to avail the facility of free medical treatment. There is a small difference though — in KP, families can avail treatment of up to Rs1m every year, more than in Punjab. While the discrepancy in the amounts should be explained, one hopes that the facility will soon be expanded to cover the entire province, and that the Sindh and Balochistan governments follow suit for the benefit of their populations who have had little access to proper healthcare, for lack of either facilities or money.
For decades, hundreds of thousands of men, women and children in the country have ended up either losing their life or their health only because they have not been able to access the required medical treatment. While one must laud the PTI’s initiative to lessen the financial burden on the general population, going forward, the authorities must also invest in equipping and improving existing facilities, especially in areas detached from large cities, so that the maximum number of patients can be catered to without overstraining the system. In this regard, the Punjab government’s decision to upgrade basic health units in underdeveloped areas and build a maternity hospital are steps in the right direction.
UNGA chief on Kashmir
BY all definitions, the Kashmir issue is the major stumbling block to peace in South Asia, and until a judicious solution acceptable to the people of the region is reached, the subcontinent is unlikely to see stability. The UN General Assembly’s president Volkan Bozkir, on his arrival in Pakistan on Thursday, gave some constructive advice to the state on how to raise the issue at the world body. What is more, the UN official made a very pertinent point when he said that the parties to the conflict must not change the status of the disputed territory till the matter is resolved.
Mr Bozkir was making an obvious reference to the events of August 2019, when India moved to make constitutional changes paving the way for the illegal annexation of India-held Kashmir. This has allowed Indians to move into the occupied area; according to one estimate, 430,000 new domicile certificates have been issued to outsiders.
As and when the Pakistan-India peace process moves forward, the situation in held Kashmir must not be lost sight of. By all means both sides must try and work on ‘softer’, less contentious issues that can play the role of confidence-builders, helping solidify the peace process. Yet India cannot be allowed to manufacture ‘facts on the ground’ in Kashmir by settling outsiders and changing the demographic make-up of the occupied territory. This concern must be included in the dialogue process, for if it is ignored it may affect the judicious settlement of the Kashmir issue.
The other very relevant point the UN official made about the Kashmir question was the need for this country to work harder to raise the issue internationally, specifically to “bring it to the United Nations platform more forcefully”. Mr Bozkir added that the Kashmir dispute lacked the level of world support the Palestine question enjoyed, though it must be mentioned that even the Palestine issue only appears on the global agenda after Israel launches a bloody attack against the Arab side.
After India’s unilateral move to annex Kashmir in 2019, Pakistan’s foreign policy establishment did activate itself and world capitals were lobbied to bring the plight of the Kashmiris to the international stage. However, the UN representative is absolutely correct that more can be done to highlight the issue. For example, he has suggested Pakistan can initiate a debate on Kashmir at UNGA supported by other states. Indeed, there is much work ahead in this regard, and Pakistan should liaise with Muslim states as well as other countries sympathetic to the Kashmir cause to ensure the issue is brought to the fore. The Kashmiris’ cause is righteous and their struggle just. Therefore, Pakistan must give all the support it can to ensure the voice of the occupied valley reaches the hallowed halls of the UN, and other multilateral forums.
Rising exports
EXPORTS from Pakistan continue to show an upward trend as overseas shipments jumped significantly by 13.6pc to $20.9bn during the first 10 months of the present fiscal year from $18.4bn a year ago as per Pakistan Bureau of Statistics data for the July-April period. The rebound in the nation’s exports is a positive development as it suggests economic recovery in spite of the challenges from the countrywide resurgence of the coronavirus. Simultaneously, imports are also increasing — and faster than exports. The encouraging part is that the demand for imported raw materials and capital goods has seen substantial growth this year owing to improved economic conditions in the country as domestic industry upgrades technology and expands production capacity. Yet the increase in wheat, sugar and cotton imports, because of the poor performance of agriculture, should be a cause of concern for policymakers in Islamabad. Encouraged by this year’s growth trend, the commerce ministry is proposing an export target of $28bn for the next fiscal, which is more than 16pc greater than the expected export revenues of around $24bn from Pakistan this year. Thus, Pakistan could almost double its exports to around $42bn over the next five years if the present growth trend is sustained.
For Pakistan it is critical to boost its exports rapidly to ward off a balance-of-payments crisis in future. At present, the country has one of the lowest levels of exports in the world as a percentage of its GDP — around 8pc. According to the World Bank’s World Development Indicators, the same ratio averaged 24.7pc for low-middle-income nations, 17.5pc for the South Asian countries and 24.4pc for highly indebted poor states back in 2019. Even though the rapid jump in remittances sent home by Pakistanis living abroad has cushioned the current account, the abysmally low exports-to-GDP ratio should worry policymakers as poor export performance has been the chief driver of balance-of-payment crises in the past. The present growth trend in exports is encouraging. But it also underscores the need for ensuring that it continues for a longer period. That will not be possible without producing more exportable surpluses, diversification of export products and markets, and improvement, in fact sophistication, in product quality. More importantly, the government needs to support the exporters in the quest to be internationally competitive, and increase productivity through skill and technology upgradation instead of doling out subsidies in different forms at the expense of taxpayers.
