More women SHOs
IT is encouraging to see more employment avenues opening up for women in Pakistan, with an increasing number of public institutions making a conscious effort to bring them on board. According to a report in this paper yesterday, the Pakistan Railways police is planning to hire more women station house officers at several major train stations, particularly in Karachi. The objective is to ensure that female passengers are assured of a pleasant, safe and secure journey. Positive feedback from passengers regarding the first ever woman SHO appointed in Lahore at the Mughalpura station has prompted PR to recruit more women for the post across the country. Some other measures, such as the installation of cameras on the trains and a mobile phone app, have also been announced so that outlaws on board can be apprehended. According to a PR police spokesperson, the criminal record information of all law-enforcement agencies has been incorporated with the e-police post app, thereby making for a more integrated system.
It may be recalled that a few months ago, a young woman travelling alone was gang-raped on a Karachi-bound train — a shocking incident that highlighted how extremely unsafe is the public transport system in Pakistan for lone female travellers. The question to be asked is never why a woman was travelling alone, but rather, what the government must do to ensure a secure environment on public transport. The recent move by the PR is thus encouraging. In a conservative society where the public space is seen as belonging to men by right — which renders females venturing outside the home even more vulnerable — the government must take proactive steps to increase women’s visibility in a range of professions seen generally as male domains, such as the police. Also, with the introduction of metro bus systems along modern lines and with separate compartments for women, travel has become more economical and perceptibly widened the avenues for female employment and education. Such a trend can only bode well for a society’s progress.
Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2022
Fuel from Russia
THE apparent headway made with Russia for the purchase of its crude oil, petrol and diesel at discounted prices is a positive development for the country’s wobbly economy. Struggling with an unprecedented liquidity crisis and a severe energy crunch due to global price shocks and disruptions, the government must not let this opportunity pass, especially since the American sanctions on Moscow, after the latter’s invasion of Ukraine, have already been removed for low- and middle-income countries seeking Russian energy. Musadik Malik, the state minister for petroleum, who had led a government team to Moscow for exploring the possibility of Russian energy imports, did not specify at what price Russia will supply its discounted oil products, or say whether the oil imports would comply with a $60 per barrel cap imposed by the G7 nations and EU on Russian seaborne oil from this week. But he claimed that the price would be similar to the discount being given to other countries or even cheaper. With the details of the deal to be settled during the upcoming visit of Russia’s energy minister to Islamabad in January, some remain sceptical because of successive governments’ failure to protect the nation’s energy interests in the past. Mr Malik also revealed that Moscow had invited Pakistan to initiate talks on long-term LNG government-to-government contracts.
If there is one lesson that we must learn from the recent spikes in global energy prices and post-Covid supply disruptions exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, it is that we should quickly diversify our sources of energy procurement and lock long-term supply contracts to ensure price stability and availability. As the minister has pointed out, Pakistan requires at least 8pc to 10pc growth in energy supply each year if it is to achieve a 5pc to 6pc economic growth rate to create new jobs and alleviate poverty. But the recent international oil and gas price shock and supply disruptions mean that a country like Pakistan, facing chronic balance-of-payments troubles, with energy imports making up the largest portion of its import bill, will never be able to meet its needs unless it devises plans to reduce its reliance on expensive imported fuel. While we should definitely lock in long-term contracts for uninterrupted supplies, the longer-term and cheaper solution to our challenges lies in investing in the exploration of our own untapped oil and gas resources and encouraging work on renewable solar and wind power.
Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2022
Disquiet on the western front
IT is very difficult for Pakistan to be delinked from Afghanistan, because of reasons of geography and history. Yet a strategically mature and realistic policy is needed to manage relations cordially with Pakistan’s western neighbour.
At a recent consultative dialogue in Islamabad, former generals, diplomats and other experts put their heads together to discuss the situation, made all the more critical following the banned TTP’s rescinding of the ceasefire with the state. There was wide consensus that a reorientation or reformulation of Pakistan’s Afghan policy was required. But the million-dollar question remains: how?
Over the last four decades, Pakistan has played a central role in Afghan affairs, primarily after this country jumped on the Afghan jihad bandwagon with the Americans and the Saudis.
Following the USSR’s 1979 invasion of Afghanistan, Pakistan was front and centre in helping the mujahideen bring down the Soviet ‘evil empire’, to use Ronald Reagan’s term. This period, under Ziaul Haq’s watch, was one when drugs and the ‘Kalashnikov culture’ started entering Pakistan, as did millions of Afghan refugees, many of whom remain in the country.
Somewhere during the Afghan jihad, the support for the mujahideen morphed into ‘strategic depth’, a policy through which primarily the military establishment sought to maintain a friendly regime in Kabul.
This continued till the Taliban’s first government was sent packing by the US in 2001, though many foreign critics claimed that Pakistani support for the Taliban continued.
Fast forward to August 2021, when the Afghan Taliban rolled into Kabul, ending the US-backed government of Ashraf Ghani. Strategic depth, it seemed, had finally delivered, as the Taliban were now masters of their domain. Yet the presence of the TTP in Afghanistan and IS-K prove that the security threat from Afghanistan continues.
It is for parliament, with input of the security establishment and foreign policy experts, to decide what the new Afghan policy should be. However, there are some points that can be considered.
For starters, Afghanistan should not be seen as part of our ‘sphere of influence’, and there should be no efforts to politically control Kabul. For two decades, the US tried a grandiose nation-building scheme in Afghanistan, and failed as the Ghani administration melted away as soon as the Taliban were within striking distance of Kabul.
Therefore, Pakistan, as well as other foreign powers, should help facilitate an intra-Afghan dialogue, but by no means should they try and manipulate Afghan politics. Secondly, the message to Kabul’s rulers should be clear: no anti-Pakistan terrorists or hostile foreign elements should find refuge on Afghan soil.
With the TTP rearing its ugly head, this message must be crystal clear. An Afghanistan at peace with itself and the world is in Pakistan’s interest, and this should be the goal of our Afghan policy.
Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2022