Football concerns
A DAY after the FIFA-AFC delegation left the country after holding meetings with officials of the Pakistan Football Federation Normalisation Committee and others, the national women’s football team arrived to a warm welcome — as runners-up in the Four-Nations Tournament in Saudi Arabia. Opening with a 1-0 win against Comoros, Pakistan suffered a 2-1 reverse against Mauritius. Captain Maria Khan’s brilliant free-kick then secured a 1-1 draw against Saudi Arabia, allowing Pakistan to take second spot behind the hosts. The PFF NC’s mandate, apart from its main role of holding elections for Pakistan’s football governing body, is to put the game back on track. With the women’s team, it seems to have done its job. The team hadn’t played a game in eight years before taking part in the SAFF Women’s Championship last year. Their performance in Saudi Arabia was creditable considering three foreign-based players couldn’t play as they did not possess Pakistani passports, a grave error by the PFF NC.
Criticism of the PFF NC — which has had two iterations since it was first appointed by FIFA in 2019, the latest one coming in January 2021 — has been on account of the delay in holding PFF elections. FIFA and AFC officials who met grassroots football organisers and stakeholders, some of whom will be contesting, were questioned. It’s been over six months and the PFF NC — which had given the government an eight-month deadline to hold elections once it returned to PFF headquarters, after having been expelled from it by a rival group — is yet to complete club registrations. It has launched an extensive programme to complete that first step towards holding elections but patience is wearing thin. FIFA and AFC officials have said that elections remain their priority. Further action will be decided by FIFA but it is clear that the sooner an elected set-up is installed, the better it will be for Pakistan football. Otherwise, the sport will remain stuck in squabbles.
Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2023
Shameful transphobia
TRANSPHOBIA takes many forms, all of them cruel and degrading. Sometimes it emanates from unexpected quarters. On Friday at the Karachi airport, Flydubai refused to allow two transgender activists from the Gender Interactive Alliance, Shahzadi Rai and Zehrish, to board its flight to Dubai apparently on account of their ‘x’ gender and cancelled their tickets. Both were flying to Kathmandu via the UAE to attend an annual meeting. It is shocking for an international airline — that too, hypocritically enough, from a country which has recently relaxed its domestic laws on alcohol consumption and same-sex couples living together in order to enhance its business-friendly image — to exhibit such transphobic attitudes. It is heartening that when Shahzadi took to social media to speak about the incident, there was a wave of support for the two activists and revulsion over Flydubai’s actions. Ironically, just a short while before, Shahzadi had tweeted a picture of herself at the airport with the caption, “The goal is to die with memories, not dreams”.
Unfortunately, what transpired on Friday illustrates that a law can be ahead of its time and that many people, hostage to entrenched biases, find it difficult to imagine a kinder, more inclusive world. Pakistan’s legislation on the rights of transgenders is an achievement the country can truly be proud of, for it has been drafted with a view to addressing the very real indignities and hurdles that transpersons face in going about their daily lives. For example, the law provides for a third gender option (which evidently offended the airline’s ground staff), enabling transgenders to obtain identification documents that are necessary to access many services, including health, education, etc as well as government employment. A sea change in their material circumstances is now possible. Before this, most transgenders were forced to earn a living in the undocumented sector, often through sex work, which led to more stereotyping and further discrimination. It was a self-perpetuating vicious cycle. Nevertheless, as repeated incidents of violence — including rape and murder — against transgenders in Pakistan demonstrate, they continue to be dehumanised and seen as society’s outcasts. The latest incident, while not in the same category, stems from the same mindset. The state must demonstrate that transgenders are fully entitled to its protection and demand that Flydubai, or any other foreign entity for that matter, respect the law of this land.
Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2023
Oil from Russia
The ‘conceptual agreements’ reached between Pakistan and Russia for the supply of Russian crude oil on Friday signify the first tangible step towards bilateral cooperation in oil trade. If everything goes according to plan, with the key issues of insurance, transportation, volume and payment mechanism being addressed, a final agreement is expected to be concluded by late March, giving an opportunity to Pakistan to buy Russian crude at discounted rates.
The two sides have agreed in principle that the payment can be made in the “currencies of friendly countries”, though the issue is still being thrashed out.
Facing a dollar crunch, Pakistan may use the Chinese yuan to pay for its purchases once the supplies begin. Pakistani officials claim that all issues were sorted out during Russian Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov’s visit for an intergovernmental commission meeting, while the Russians say that matters are “in the final stage of agreement”.
Once a “consensus on the technical specification [is] achieved, the oil and gas trade transactions will be structured in a way it has mutual benefit for both countries”, said a joint statement.
Energy accounts for the largest portion of Pakistan’s imports, and cheaper oil from Russia will help somewhat lower the burgeoning trade deficit at the heart of our balance-of-payments crisis that has seen foreign currency stocks deplete to $4.3bn from over $17bn in the last one year. Islamabad plans to procure at least 35pc of its annual crude oil imports of 70m barrels from Russia if the agreement is finalised and oil supplies begin. Considering the Western cap of $60 a barrel on Russian crude, imposed to deplete Moscow’s oil cash flow because of the Ukraine war, Pakistan could save half a billion to a billion dollars annually on its overall oil imports depending on the price discount offered on top of the Western cap, freight and other costs, and import volumes. India has taken full advantage of the discounted Russian oil, which made up 15pc of its total oil imports last year. That would be a significant relief for a country on the brink of default.
It may appear far-fetched, but some industry sources feel that the EU’s plan to also prohibit European firms from insuring, shipping or trading Russian crude anywhere in the world — unless the oil is sold at a price below the cap set by the West — could throw a spanner in the works if Moscow refuses to sell oil to Pakistan at or below the suppressed rate. But that is in the future. For now, the government should follow up quickly on its plans to boost oil and gas trade with Russia. If India can get its way around Western sanctions against Moscow, Pakistan should be able to do so too if the need arises.
Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2023