Narcotics menace
WE are watching a tragedy unfold — the curse of substance abuse and addiction hits every fourth household in Karachi. This was revealed by officials of the Sindh Task Force on Demand Reduction of Drugs and Harmful Substance Control to Sindh’s caretaker health minister on Saturday. It must be remembered that, according to a UN report released in October 2022, 7.6m people are addicted to drugs in Pakistan. Even more disconcerting is the knowledge that the scourge saturates educational institutions as severely as it does poor street children. Hence, the authorities must abandon their complacency and shortsighted crackdowns. The crying need of the hour are circumspect, holistic strategies that tackle socioeconomic pressures, routes, supply chains and rehabilitation of victims. Or else, a vast swathe of our next generation will go up in smoke.
Pakistan’s narcotic cloud is an upshot of the country’s failure to abide by the international conventions it ratified, such as the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, and domestic legislations, including the Control of Narcotics Substances Act, 2022, which stipulates maximum penalty in instances where drugs are peddled in or near educational facilities. Admittedly, law enforcement does try to plug smuggling routes, but the paucity of resources and personnel often puts a damper on their actions. What makes the situation worse is that reports of drug cartels busted by the police and the ANF rarely result in convictions and details of legal actions against pushers. Only swift trials can ensure that fear of punishment becomes a deterrent, and the onus of a transparent process is on provincial governments. At the other end, offenders and addicts are not the same. The latter are patients in need of a sensitised security apparatus that prioritises treatment before penalty. Moreover, addiction ripples past victims and engulfs families. Rehabilitation programmes centred on collective therapy with support groups are the only way to cauterise this malignant menace.
Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2023
‘Quick-fix’ nation
THE impulse for policy prescriptions that will quickly ‘fix’ the rotten economy, create tens of hundreds of jobs and attract billions of dollars in investment is quite strong among our ruling classes as they desperately look for instant results to take credit for economic success. These shortcuts may produce immediate results, but are not the kind of solutions likely to lead to long-term economic stability and prosperity. That is the message a senior World Bank bureaucrat sought to convey the other day when he cautioned our politicians, business elites and other powerful stakeholders against relying on short-term measures such as domestic debt restructuring and attracting one-time investment without addressing the ‘big picture issues’ through reforms aimed at improving the business climate, tax system, market conditions, public entities and human capital. “Pakistan’s economy is stuck in a low-growth trap, with poor human development outcomes and increasing poverty. Economic conditions leave Pakistan highly vulnerable to climate shocks, with insufficient resources to finance development and climate adaptation,” the World Bank’s regional vice president for South Asia Martin Raiser told the media. “It is now time for Pakistan to decide whether to maintain the patterns of the past or take difficult but crucial steps towards a brighter future.”
The ‘advice’ comes at a time when revised national accounts show that our GDP actually contracted by 0.17pc during FY23 against the original estimate of 0.29pc growth. Though the economy had posted a ‘high’ growth rate of 6.17pc the year before, it was the result of quick-fix policy prescriptions — a cornerstone of past economic strategies — rather than economic restructuring. Pakistan’s present crisis is not unique. Several other countries have experienced similar episodes. Nor is it the first crisis of its kind to hit us, even if it is much deeper and has lingered longer. While most nations, such as Pakistan, went for quick results to pull off temporary stabilisation, a few like India and several Southeast Asian economies turned their crises into opportunities by implementing tough reforms for a durable turnaround. The reform programmes must be extensive, and long-term plans should be aimed at restructuring policy frameworks and other deep-seated economic issues and vulnerabilities underlined by Mr Raiser. Such plans always look much beyond immediate gains. The question is: do our rulers have the courage and patience to make and implement them?
Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2023
Political sacrifice
THE PTI will soon see a change of management — at least on paper. The kerfuffle that preceded this momentous announcement, however, has been in keeping with the party’s chaotic internal workings.
On Tuesday, two conflicting statements from within the PTI — one from newly appointed senior vice president Sher Afzal Marwat, one posted on the party’s official social media accounts — revealed that a once unthinkable possibility, the replacement of Imran Khan as PTI chairman, was finally being considered.
The move was explained by Mr Marwat as a strategy to allow Mr Khan to continue dealing with his legal challenges without putting the PTI’s political future at risk.
However, while Mr Marwat proclaimed that a replacement had also been picked, the PTI contradicted him by insisting that no final decision had been made. By Wednesday afternoon, however, the PTI had sheepishly confirmed Mr Marwat’s earlier statement: Mr Khan’s lawyer, Gohar Ali Khan, had been handpicked by the PTI chief as his candidate for the party’s chairmanship in the upcoming intra-party polls.
It bears remembering that the party was recently told by the ECP that it would lose its coveted ‘bat’ election symbol if it did not hold intra-party elections soon, and it was in this context that the PTI was forced to discuss a replacement for Mr Khan, whose own eligibility to remain chairman is moot due to his disqualification and the cases against him.
However, the conflicting statements from senior PTI leaders and the initial disbelief within the party’s rank and file over the prospect of Mr Khan stepping down made it clear that it was not an easy proposition for PTI’s staunchest supporters to digest.
Nor would it have been for Mr Khan, who is not really known for selfless leadership. Relinquishing control over the party, especially at a time when his own popularity is at its peak, could not have been an easy decision.
However, the alternative would have been to risk the PTI being forced to sit out the upcoming elections.
Mr Khan should be commended for displaying political maturity and ensuring that his party will remain able to contest the upcoming elections. He has avoided learning the hard way that missing out on elections ends up not only inflicting lasting costs on political parties, but also on national politics.
The late Benazir Bhutto had famously regretted the PPP’s boycott of the 1985 elections, which, she believed, allowed political nobodies to fill the power vacuum and led to the rise of a political class that represented narrow interests rather than public aspirations.
The chairmanship will not have been an easy sacrifice for Mr Khan, but if it ensures that the PTI ship will stay afloat till it finds more favourable winds, it will have been a worthy one.
Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2023