Unreasonable Mr Shah
IT was an uncalled-for statement, especially when Pakistan held its allotted matches of the Asia Cup, which it was supposed to host in full. Perhaps emotions got the better of Asian Cricket Council president Jay Shah, who is also the secretary of the Board of Cricket Control in India.
Criticised for scheduling the Asia Cup after the India-Pakistan clash in the Sri Lankan town of Pallekele was reduced to a damp squib, Mr Shah refused to entertain the offer by the Pakistan Cricket Board to shift matches of the Super Four stage from rainy Colombo to drier Lahore.
Hambantota also got a mention. Sri Lanka had been BCCI’s choice of venue after it claimed its government had refused to allow its team to travel to Pakistan. That refusal saw a hybrid model was agreed upon, allowing Pakistan to stage some matches.
Instead of a simple statement regarding the choice to retain Colombo, Mr Shah stated that teams had been reluctant to play the entire tournament in Pakistan due to security and economic challenges, though Pakistan hosted at least a game each of every participating team apart from India.
Further, BCCI president Roger Binny and vice-president Rajiv Shukla visited Pakistan to witness the matches — the first trip by BCCI officials here since 2008. Mr Shah also cited changes in PCB as a reason for ‘back-and-forth negotiations’.
All this for a request to change the host city is excessive and irked the PCB, which has lodged an official protest with Mr Shah. Sunday’s India-Pakistan Super Four match in Colombo also faces the threat of rain, forcing PCB to include a reserve day.
In effect, Mr Shah is running the tournament that PCB was supposed to host. Even Indian analysts agree that his position as ACC chief is a conflict of interest due to his BCCI role. Cricket will continue to be politicised for as long as he remains the ACC chief.
Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2023
Currency concerns
A NATION-WIDE military-backed crackdown launched by the FIA against illegal foreign currency trade and smuggling has started showing signs of success as reflected by a 1.35pc rise in the value of the rupee after slumping to a record low of 307.25 to a dollar in the interbank earlier this week. Besides shutting down unlicensed currency shops and arresting many allegedly involved in illicit foreign currency trade, the authorities have deployed security officials in plainclothes at money exchanges to monitor dollar sales. The hundi/ hawala players are believed to have gone underground and the open market rate has begun converging with the interbank rate. The dollar supply in the open market has increased. Those who had bought dollars to hedge against exchange losses are also offloading their stash, with the retail dollar price falling below its official rate. Exporters are coming for their export bill discounting in the interbank and remittances through formal banking channels are said by bankers to be improving. The State Bank has introduced significant structural reforms to consolidate the exchange companies and their franchises and asked banks to deepen their engagement with retail foreign currency business. So far so good.
But it is unclear at this stage if the rupee will sustain this momentum and for how long since the economic fundamentals remain unchanged. It is also not clear at what point the exchange rate will settle. If people are sceptical of the long-term impact of the crackdown against illicit money changers and smugglers, it isn’t without reason. Similar campaigns were launched in 2021 and 2022. However, each time the sentiment reversed in a few weeks or months because administrative actions can do only so much. Unless official and private capital inflows increase, inflation decreases, business confidence improves and electoral uncertainty ends, chances are that volatility will return to the foreign exchange market. Then finance minister Ishaq Dar made the same mistake a year ago when he tried to bolster the currency through administrative actions. He didn’t use the stick the way the military can, but he did pressure exchange companies and placed curbs through the State Bank to restrict outflows. The rupee improved, but for how long? Thus, it is imperative to fix the core issues of the ever-worsening balance-of-payments, and consistently high fiscal deficit to sustain any improvement in the exchange rate.
Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2023
Lawyers’ strike
THE call for a nationwide strike today by the Supreme Court Bar Association has stirred memories of 2007, when the black coats took to the streets to put pressure on a military-led dispensation to cede to constitutionalism.
The Lawyers’ Movement, as it came to be known, was won due to the efforts of the legal fraternity, but there were significant contributions too from politicians, the media, and civil society, each of which played a distinct role in pushing back against an oppressive regime that had persistently refused to obey the laws of the land.
The dictator in question was eventually convicted of high treason, but lessons from their mistakes and excesses were never learnt. Over time, the tumult and turbulence which marked the end of that regime seem to have been forgotten, and we now see a new set of actors toying with the Constitution, undermining the judiciary, suspending civil liberties and suppressing dissent.
It is, therefore, no surprise that the veterans of that movement are once again taking the lead in efforts to mobilise the legal fraternity against what they see as a ‘creeping martial law’ disguised as an effort to ‘stabilise’ the country.
The resolution passed at the All Pakistan Lawyers Convention organised by the SCBA reads like a charge-sheet against the state: it demands the release of all political prisoners, an end to the security establishment’s meddling in political matters, upholding the Constitution and rule of law, and the primacy of civilian supremacy.
It also opposes the trial of any civilian in military courts, calling it a negation of fair trial, due process and other fundamental rights, demands general elections within the 90-day period defined in the Constitution; warns the government to stop interfering in the judiciary’s working; and seeks punishment for those who continue to defy the court’s orders.
These demands can hardly be described as radical or revolutionary. Indeed, they seem rather straightforward in that they simply reiterate that the respective roles each stakeholder has been assigned by the state must be adhered to.
It reflects poorly on Pakistan’s civil society leadership that it is not organisations dedicated to protecting basic liberties and fundamental rights that are taking the lead in asserting these demands, but professional lawyers distressed at our escalating social decline. In the past, advocates for human rights — Asma Jahangir and I.A. Rehman foremost among them — would boldly fight for what few dared demand.
But with these icons no longer among us, it seems as if somewhere, somehow, even those who were once dedicated to the prosperity of our people have gradually lost their conviction. One continues to hope that the silence of Pakistan’s brightest is born more of inexperience or inaction, rather than any enduring disillusionment or apathy.
Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2023