Streets of death
A LIFE without a sense of permanence is one aspect of a human crisis as complex as homelessness. But the fact that our destitute are unsafe due to administrative neglect should be a matter of national shame. A hit-and-run accident left three shelterless siblings dead and two others wounded when a family, asleep on a footpath in Karachi, was run over by a speeding car on Wednesday. Although warnings and solutions have come thick and fast for long, they went unheeded. In 2022, the National Commission on the Rights of the Child put the number of street children in Pakistan at 1.5m. The figure has since, in line with inflation, risen. Informal estimates say that around 20m people in Pakistan are homeless. In 2020, experts stated that Karachi’s “housing demand is 120,000 units per year”.
Homelessness in a moribund economy becomes more than the absence of an address. It is wedged between socioeconomic issues — unemployment, paltry wages, high lodging costs, drug addiction, poor health — and social desertion among others, leaving multitudes, especially women and children, vulnerable to disease, crime, drug abuse, begging, climate crises, exploitation by the human trafficking mafia — and death by rash drivers. The state simply cannot cut corners; rehabilitation initiatives, aided by provisions for education and employment, are an absolute necessity. Support in childhood, social empowerment for the marginalised with a vision to deliver housing and shelter facilities is the duty of every stakeholder. Moreover, the journey to save citizens is futile without a sensitised, disciplined thana culture. At present, street dwellers are rarely seen as even statistics by the police; most crimes against them and their deaths go unreported. Lastly, a surfeit of CCTV cameras and breathalysers should be put to use as tools to track rash drivers and book offenders for manslaughter. No more time should be lost in bringing the dispossessed to the mainstream for Pakistan to see better times.
Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2024
Contempt ruling
AN Islamabad High Court decision penalising the city’s deputy commissioner, a senior superintendent of police and a station house officer for violating court orders seems to be cause for some end-of-the-week hope after a dreary February. The court has held DC Irfan Nawaz Memon, SSP Jameel Zafar and SHO Naseer Manzoor guilty of contempt of court for issuing and executing multiple detention orders under the MPO ordinance despite having been ordered not to by the IHC. The Islamabad DC has been handed a six-month prison sentence, the SSP a four-month sentence, and the SHO a two-month sentence for contempt of court. All three have also been fined Rs100,000 each. The court of Justice Babar Sattar not only provided ample opportunity to the defendants to make their case during proceedings, but has also suspended their sentences for a month to give them a chance to appeal. It is uncommon for civil administration officials to face consequences for their excesses, which is why the judgement is being hailed as a positive development, more so since the executive has been behaving lately as if it is above the reach of the law.
The defiance shown by the Islamabad Police in response to the verdict is a clear symptom of the malaise. It seems there is a sense of complete impunity prevalent among those who routinely overstep their bounds in their zeal to exercise unlawful control over the people of Pakistan. Lawyers and observers have been outraged by the institution’s announcement on X (formerly Twitter) that Islamabad Police officers will have the judgement struck down through an intra-court appeal and that the three men will continue to work as usual till a final decision is reached. From the looks of it, the ICT Police seems to consider the court’s judgement an ‘affront’ that can be disregarded on a whim. One is tempted to recall the infamous ‘notification is rejected’ tweet from a few years ago. Islamabad Police should realise that this is inexcusable posturing: obeying and enforcing court orders is not optional. With such attitudes prevailing at the top, it is clear why the police officers convicted of contempt had paid little heed to earlier orders and believed there would be no consequences for their unlawful actions. This culture of impunity needs to end.
Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2024
Urgent challenge
PAKISTAN has been in a state of deep economic turmoil featuring a balance-of-payments crisis, high fiscal deficit, elevated inflation, unsustainable debt, low investments and a shrinking economy in recent years.
The reasons for the current upheaval range from defective fiscal and economic policies, and the global energy and commodity price spiral post-Covid, to the destructive floods of 2022. The political instability, ongoing since the 2022 ouster of the PTI, has only aggravated the economic tumult, with the country narrowly dodging a default last summer after being thrown an emergency lifeline by the IMF.
This picture underscores the huge challenge that awaits the incoming minority government of the PML-N and its finance minister whosoever it might be.
It was also acknowledged by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif when he warned his party’s elected lawmakers earlier this week that the next two years would be challenging for the new administration due to economic and political uncertainty.
There is consensus that negotiating a new extended programme with the IMF — and quickly — to replace the existing interim facility will be the incoming finance minister’s most urgent challenge. The successor IMF bailout is critical for external sector stability and to unlock loans from other creditors at one of the toughest points in Pakistan’s history.
Without an extended package from the global lender, it would be near impossible to fill the huge annual financing gap of at least $25bn over the next several years.
The IMF will likely extend help but not unless the authorities commit to further belt-tightening steps needed for the country to stay on the path to recovery. The programme goals might prove extremely unpopular because they would limit the government’s options to provide relief to the inflation-stricken people, or even please the investors looking for support to spur growth.
One of the toughest goals for the finance minister pertains to a large reduction in the fiscal deficit, which has averaged over 7.3pc over the last five years. The fiscal authorities must reduce the deficit to 3-3.5pc in the medium term to cut borrowings and the mounting debt, and reduce inflation to 5-7pc to facilitate rate cuts to spur investment and growth for job creation.
This is going to be the hardest of all reforms as it would require the finance minister to effectively tax his party’s core constituencies: retail, real estate and large farmers, as well as do away with the wasteful expenditure on public sector businesses like PIA and eliminate energy and other subsidies to powerful business lobbies.
These are also areas wherein lie the interests of the powers that be. If the country is to be pulled back from the brink, the incoming finance team will have to prioritise economic decisions over political considerations and personal whims.
Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2024