Dirty water
A GASTROENTERITIS outbreak in a village located in Karachi’s Malir area underscores the major hazards dirty water poses to public health. As reported, over 300 diarrhoea cases have emerged in Sheedi Goth since late June, with one fatality. Local health officials say contaminated water is to blame for the outbreak, and that cases usually spike during summer. Water samples collected from the area had shown traces of E. coli and Vibrio cholera. Though international observers say Pakistan has made progress in improving sanitation conditions, there remain significant gaps in the provision of clean water and proper sanitation services. For example, Unicef estimates that around 70pc of households in this country may be drinking contaminated water, while some 53,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoea caused by dirty water and unsatisfactory sanitation. In big cities like Karachi, the problem is twofold: there is not enough water to go around — the megacity only gets around half of its requirement — while the water that is supplied may not be fit for drinking unless it is filtered or boiled. In worse scenarios, such as the recent outbreak in Malir, potable water may be mixed with sewage, creating a health disaster.
Universally, water, sanitation and hygiene are linked by experts in one cluster, and planners need to focus on delivering all three of these in order to protect public health and reduce the dangers posed by waterborne diseases. While such diseases took a high toll in the aftermath of last year’s monsoon floods, even in more ‘normal’ times the population is susceptible to illnesses linked to dirty water and inadequate sanitation. The solution lies in supplying clean potable water to all communities, and ensuring that sewage and waste is properly disposed of. Moreover, communities need to be sensitised about the link between sanitation and good health, particularly handwashing. Such a combination of interventions could help bring down the disease burden considerably.
Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2023
Ruling by proxy
DESPITE the enactment of a slew of tailor-made laws that have paved the way for his ‘safe’ return, and despite his party enjoying ostensible support from the state machinery, Nawaz Sharif’s promised homecoming still seems elusive.
The three-time former prime minister was recently in the neighbourhood, and there was feverish speculation that he may soon hop onto a plane for Lahore after his furtive rendezvous with the PPP co-chairman in Dubai.
Reportedly, the two had chosen to meet away from prying ears and eyes to discuss the modalities of the next general election and their political future.
However, soon after those talks, Mr Sharif seems to have jetted off west instead of heading east, and it now appears that his arrival in the country is once again uncertain.
What exactly is his plan, and why does Mr Sharif, who only recently expressed a wish to rule Pakistan for a fourth time, have such little interest in returning to the country?
There are many within the PML-N’s ranks who believe Mr Sharif’s extended sojourn in London has greatly hurt the party’s prospects.
Without its ‘supreme leader’ around, the PML-N has experienced considerable internal tension between those loyal to him, and those whose interests align more with his younger brother’s.
These internal tensions have repeatedly come to the fore, especially over the man appointed by Mr Sharif to manage Pakistan’s economic affairs since September last year. Still, these disturbances have not been enough to convince the former prime minister to return.
There have been rumours and speculation that the elder Sharif insists on being laundered afresh by the state — ie, he wants all pending legal challenges against him dismissed or neutralised before he returns. His government has certainly been working towards that end, tinkering with accountability laws and skirmishing with the Supreme Court over past verdicts.
However, while all of this may well clear his name on paper, the acid test of Mr Sharif’s politics will be his acceptability to the Pakistani electorate, with which he has made no effort to reconnect nor seems interested in doing so.
He must realise that he cannot expect to be handed the PM’s office on a platter. If he legitimately wants to be PM again, he must return to Pakistan and seek his political fortunes here instead of controlling its affairs through proxies.
Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2023
Ten years of CPEC
ISLAMABAD and Beijing are celebrating a decade of CPEC this month. Indeed, this decade has seen China become the biggest source of investment, loans and grants for, and the largest trading partner of, Pakistan. Islamabad has so far received $25.4bn in direct Chinese investment in various transport, energy, and infrastructure schemes under the flagship connectivity and investment corridor project, part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. The CPEC-related investments are in addition to the huge loans and currency swap arrangement of CN¥30bn that Beijing has provided to Islamabad over the last 10 years to support its flagging economy, ease pressure on its weakening debt repayment capacity and reduce its dependence on dollars for trade to protect its forex reserves. The role played by China to help Islamabad avert a sovereign default was publicly acknowledged by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif the day after the IMF gave its initial nod to the new short-term $3bn funding programme.
However, the CPEC initiative has not been without challenges and controversies. While the opacity around the award of contracts to Chinese firms without any competition, tax incentives given to them and high returns guaranteed for power generation projects under CPEC raised many an eyebrow in the media and business circles in the country, doubts raised by certain foreign elements led some to see the project as a debt trap. Most controversies around the transport and infrastructure initiative have receded with time, but concerns at the lack of transparency in the way the investment schemes are approved still linger. It was because of such concerns that we have not seen much development — greater bilateral cooperation in the industrial and agricultural sectors — in CPEC’s second phase in the last five years.
The 10-year celebrations afford both countries an opportunity to take stock of what has been achieved so far and chalk out the way forward for greater economic connectivity. Pakistan must tweak its outdated industrial and agricultural policies to attract Chinese investment and technology. This is of enormous importance for Pakistan, as it urgently needs to boost its productivity to increase its exports and bridge the widening trade gap, which is the main cause of its balance-of-payments crisis. We also need to close the trade deficit of around $20bn with Beijing. That is not possible without quickly completing the special economic zones to convince Chinese firms to relocate their manufacturing facilities here for export back home and elsewhere in the world. Likewise, we need Chinese experience and technology for boosting our agricultural output in order to curtail rural poverty and create exportable surplus. At the same time, we should enhance our efforts to link Afghanistan and the Central Asian states and, if and when possible, India and other South Asian economies with this trade route to fully exploit CPEC’s true potential.
Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2023