Heritage economy
THE tide may be turning on Sindh’s syncretic heritage. But its fortunes will be difficult to change if decades of prejudice and decay have not left a loud message – symbols of history are not subservient to faith. Last week, Sindh’s chief secretary said that attempts to preserve and protect Hindu and Buddhist sites were underway to draw tourists, and the fact that Sindh was home to some 369 multicultural sites was shared by the culture secretary. The province has historically held Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist emblems close, as seen in Bhambore where ruins reveal a confluence of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. At present, Sindh’s age-old, unfairly overlooked bond with Jainism, visible across Thar’s plains, Karoonjhar hills and Nagarparkar, has crystallised into beautiful carcasses of Hindu shahi and Jain temples. From the grand stupa at Mohenjodaro, Thul Hairo Khan in Johi, Kahu jo Daro in Mirpurkhas, Sudheran jo Thul near Hyderabad, Thul Rukan in Moro to the remains of a Buddhist township at Siraj ji Takri along the Rohri hills and Kirthar range, Sindh’s Buddhist inheritance began with the Rai dynasty and throve under the Soomra dynasty.
Although it took an economic meltdown for Sindh’s officials to recognise the value of heritage, it is a much-awaited step forward. However, authorities must be clear that while religious and cultural tourism may be a path to diversify the economy and accruing generous gains, the abandonment of inclusiveness remains an impediment. Heritage places should be showcased along with festivals and customs to endorse a tolerant Pakistan for pilgrims and tourists. The ambitious project will require relaxed visa policies, safe transport, tour guides and a network of rest houses or small hotels, supported by local and international promotion. Competing histories hamper a nation’s cultural and societal growth and damage its economy. After all, heritage is not confined to monuments. It has multiple purposes, most significantly social subtext and the sanctity of humanity.
Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2023
Power crisis
EVEN with IMF funds almost in hand, Pakistan’s worsening blackouts continue to signal economic distress. Signs are that last year’s energy crisis will appear milder in comparison to what the people are going to experience in 2023 — both in summer and winter. There are multiple factors behind Pakistan’s energy shortage. The immediate problem is simple: there isn’t enough fuel. The other major reason is the aging power grid, which is incapable of meeting the massive growth in the summer load. Therefore, consumers have not only to cope with hours-long scheduled and forced outages daily, but also frequent tripping and fluctuation in power supply. The energy outlook for winter is also bleak, as the bid to secure six ‘spot’ LNG cargoes has been rebuffed by global gas suppliers because of Pakistan’s dollar crunch and problems in opening letters of credit for imports. Will the next attempt to purchase three cargoes for January and February succeed? It is anyone’s guess.
Long power outages are not new to Pakistanis; one can recall the late 2000s and early 2010s — or even earlier. The massive Chinese investments in electricity generation under the CPEC initiative had, however, engendered hopes that the blackouts would soon be history. That didn’t happen. Rather, the price of new generation capacity increased the cost of production, forcing the government to accumulate a huge power-sector debt because it could not recover the full electricity production bill from consumers, despite raising retail prices multiple times. The post-Covid surge in global oil and LNG prices made matters worse, as the government was compelled to resort to frequent power and gas outages, both in summer and winter, to reduce its energy import bill, which was proving to be a drain on our meagre foreign exchange reserves and causing the current account deficit to expand. That said, we must acknowledge that the present energy crisis is not an outcome of historical and structural factors pulling down the fragile power sector alone. In recent months, energy shortages have become a symptom of Pakistan’s failing economy. With the authorities struggling to procure fuel and consumers scrambling to pay bloated bills, Pakistan’s power troubles are unlikely to go away anytime soon without significant improvement in the country’s financial position and the implementation of the painful reforms needed to fix structural issues in the energy sector.
Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2023
Restoring faith
WITH Pakistani democracy in the throes of yet another existential crisis, June 30, the International Day of Parliamentarianism, ought to have held special significance for us.
On that day, parliamentary democracies are supposed to take stock of where they stand, how far they’ve come, and how far they still have to go as they evolve into forums that are truly representative of their people.
It is unfortunate that our lawmakers felt no need for such self-reflection. Our parliament today seems more like a glorified fighting pit for the vile and uncouth, rather than an agora for the wise to engage in reasoned debate.
It is a place where the already privileged pass slurs and mock each other, instead of proposing solutions and counter-solutions to the problems of their constituents.
Of course, it is the very essence of democracy for there to be disagreement — sometimes with vehemence, sometimes with calm grace.
However, such disagreements are supposed to be resolved with ethos, logos and pathos, not brawling, spurious allegations and abuse of power. Unfortunately, our lawmakers have historically tended towards the latter, only to rue it when the tables turn.
The security establishment’s repeated interference in the political process has also been key in never letting the parliamentary system stabilise enough so that it could perpetuate a resilient socioeconomic order.
Repeated military takeovers hollowed out the institution from within, preventing an organic, representative polity from taking root. Even when civilian-led governments have ostensibly been in the saddle, the state continued to pull the reins from behind the scenes, never really letting any popular leader have the final say in some of the most important aspects of statecraft, especially foreign policy.
Pakistan today stands at a crossroads. One path leads to an uncertain future; the other may set us back by a few decades. With a host of social, economic and political crises threatening to rip the country apart, a stable, representative parliament could have helped the nation muster the courage needed to make difficult choices.
Unfortunately, at a time when all shades of opinion needed to be brought together to find a consensus for the path forward, our parliamentarians once again seem to be working with non-parliamentary forces to repeat already failed experiments.
This is not to absolve those who have simply never given parliament or their fellow parliamentarians the respect and deference they deserved.
However, the answer lies not in once again engineering the electoral process to instal a more ‘desirable’ government, but in faithfully restoring parliament so that it truly represents the people of Pakistan.
How to do so, is a problem that our lawmakers — present and aspiring — must solve themselves. Their failure will only diminish the legislature’s standing and cede more power to external forces.
Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2023