Dream of a Digital Pakistan shattered

By Shujauddin Qureshi

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A tweet by Prime Minister Imran’s Special Assistant for Digital Pakistan Ms. Tania Aidrus on July 29, 2020, sharing her resignation, apparently being heartbroken by severe criticism of her citizenship status has shattered the dream of Digital Pakistan forever.

Pakistan government shared the list of Advisors and Special Assistants to the Prime Minister (SAPMs) who had huge properties and dual nationalities. Ms Aidrus was revealed as a citizen of Canada with a residentship of Singapore.

This resignation news has nothing to do with the so-called ban on the digital game PUBG by the federal government or a proposed ban on YouTube by the courts. Ms. Aidrus had opposed the ban on YouTube. She wrote in a thread of tweets: “Banning a platform like YouTube is not a solution. The 3 years when YouTube was banned in Pakistan it held back our content creator ecosystem which has just started to flourish now, creating employment opportunities for thousands. Our focus should be on ensuring better curation of content through policy and dialogue. Brute force measures like banning will not serve any purpose and will hold us back from achieving the vision of #DigitalPakistan.” Please click on this link

Pakistan has been striving hard to be included in the digital map of the world. Still, many powerful forces inside Pakistan have always hindered any such attempt at a higher level.

With joining of Ms. Aidrus as SAPM had raised hope for quick implementation of the state policies and infrastructures for a Digital Pakistan, but she faced a series of controversies from the start of her joining the DP programme.

First, the former Information Technology (IT) Minister Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui (belonging to the coalition party Muttahida Quomi Movement) resigned apparently for the rights of Karachi, but he was reportedly unhappy with the inclusion of Ms. Aidrus in her ministry.

Moreover, she also faced another controversy when a news item was published in the daily Dawn on June 26, 2020, revealing a controversy on social media, questioning the involvement of Tania Andrus, who is also a member of the board of directors of a company owned by Imran Khan’s aide and now the main accused in sugar scandal.

Only last year on December 5, 2019, Prime Minister Imran Khan launched the Digital Pakistan programme and nominated Ms Aidrus, a Google executive at that time who quit her position, to lead the initiative.

The inclusion of Ms Aidrus on the board of directors of a not-for-profit company the Digital Pakistan Foundation (PDF) had raised concerns, particularly one leading to a conflict of interest because of the lack of transparency around the foundation’s funding and operations.

Although someone else will replace Ms. Aidrus in the DP programme, there is no hope for Pakistan being digitalized in near future.

I am sorry for Sir Zeeshan Usmani, an IT expert and a visionary Pakistani living abroad as he had submitted very fruitful recommendations to Ms. Aidrus in a personal meeting with her at the Prime Minister House in Islamabad, which he had explained in his following YouTube video.

facebook.com/zusmani78/(opens in a new tab)

I am happy that we will soon see a revolution in the IT sector in Pakistan. But all this is devastating.

Had those recommendations been implemented Pakistan would be become digitalized very quickly. But the powerful mafia in the government was not ready to accept such changes and want to keep the country in the dark ages.

Heavy rains expose Sindh, City governments' inefficiency

Karachi city has been experiencing the worst-ever breakdown of civic utilities as the city received heavy Monsoon downpours in different areas on two consecutive days (Sunday and Monday). At least five people lost their lives due to electrocution in Karachi on Sunday.

Many areas in Malir, district East received heavy rains on Sunday as the met office recorded maximum rainfall of 86.2 millimetres (mm), or 3.3 inches, in the Gulshan-i-Hadeed area. Other areas, which received heavy included University Road,/Gulistan-i-Jauhar (80.8 mm), North Karachi (61.9 mm), Keamari (50.8 mm), Jinnah Terminal (58 mm), Saddar (51 mm), Pahalwan Goth (49.6 mm), PAF Base Faisal (49.2 mm), Nazimabad (28 mm), PAF Base Masroor and Landhi (23 mm).

With the first drop of the rain, power in many areas was shut down, which was restored after many hours.

On Monday the worst affected areas by the rain were in districts Central and West. Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal in district East also received heavy downpours on Monday.

This video was shared on social media (WhatsApp) by a journalist

Many areas in Orangi Town area were badly affected as water entered into homes due to rain as well as overflowing of the rain drains.

Residents have shared videos of North Karachi where gushing rainwater was even pushing vehicles and many cars and motorcycles can be seen floating on the water.

In Orangi area volunteers rescued dozens of students from a Madressah, where water from a Nallah (rain drain) had overflowed and entered into the premises of the religious school.

Reports of submerging of low-lying areas in Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Gulistan-e-Jauhar caused agony for the residents.

No government authorities were seen on roads to rescue people. For example in Orangi, volunteers of a religious charity organisation rescued children from the Madressah. The city government of Karachi had failed to maintain a drainage system in the city. The floodwater drains were not cleaned on the time and the provincial Sindh government and Karachi Metropolitan Corporation or City government were seen at the loggers’ heads to blame each other for their failure to maintain the sewerage system. The City Mayor, whose tenure is about to end on August 2, 2020, remained off the scene during the two days’ devastating rains.

Another stoning of a Sindhi woman

The social media was filled with posts of the stoning of a married woman in Jamshoro district last week and a postmortem of the lady has revealed a high degree of torture and molestation of the victim. Police have already arrested a husband and some relatives of the woman.

This was the second case of stoning in recent history as a few months back a case of the stoning of a girl was reported in Johi, Dadu district, which was hushed by the Police under a high degree of pressure from influential Rind tribe chieftains who were also supported by a media magnate belonging to the same tribe. An HRCP (Human Rights Commission of Pakistan) fact-finding mission also tried to cover up the stoning incident.

Initially, the Johi police had arrested the father, mother and a prayer leader in the case of stoning to 10-year old Gul Sama, but they were later freed under the pressure from local influential people.

A reporter from a media house based in Karachi had also faced outrage from the Rind tribe people as their chieftain managed to hold several protest demonstrations against the said reporter in different cities including in Dadu and Karachi. The reporter and his family members received threats from the local landlords and his supporters.

The new incident of stoning is feared to face the same fate as the tribal influential people and some sections in the establishment do not want a spread of the news about the centuries-old tribal custom of stoning in the media.

A recent statement by Women Action Forum has demanded the provincial Sindh government to send the case to the Anti-Terrorism court.

The women's rights group WAF has expressed serious concern over a post-mortem report of the woman, Wazeeran Chhachhar. The WAF said that this case had exposed the incompetence of all institutions supposed to enforce the law and society`s indifferent attitude towards women. It said that the victim`s body had clear marks of violence all over and according to the woman who gave a funerary bath to the victim, there were torture marks on her body also.

It said that according to a post-mortem report, Waseeran had also offered resistance and her nails were also filled with dust.

The cold-blooded murder of a lady was first reported on social media, and then local and foreign press took it. On this, the Chairperson of the Sindh Commission on Status of Women Ms. Nuzhat Shireen also visited the place near Sann.

Although police have registered a case against the woman’s husband, his brother and another relative. Father the victim woman is the complainant in the case. Police have also arrested the husband and his brother who confessed to torturing her.

According to a report published in Arab News it was a case of a family dispute of “Watta Satta”, which literally means “to give and take (relationship)”.

But it is not simply a family feud as the woman was brutally tortured and the post-mortem report has confirmed it. The WAF has feared that the case might be spoiled due to a lack of interest from the police.

Herd Immunity

“Someone was saying that everyone will have the Coronavirus at least once due to the pandemic,” said my wife, Shazia. “Is it correct?” she asked me.

“I don’t think so, because those who take precautions will be spared, ” was my reply.

But they say those who wear masks etc. will even have to undergo the disease, she again asked. No, it is not correct, I replied emphatically adding that it is propaganda like some people were saying that there is no such disease or others were declaring it a conspiracy. Even many were saying the government is receiving Dollars for each patient.

“Why are you listening to them seriously?” I asked. These people are creating fear unintentionally and your subconscious mind is quite sensitive so if you think along these lines you may receive it. Therefore, just ignore such comments, I said to her. But I senses she was not convinced by my arguments.

My wife is not alone who was facing such a situation these days when the entire media is full of news about the spread of the pandemic COVID-19 in the country and every day the numbers are increasing. Daily thousands of people are reported to test positive and around 100 people lose their lives each day.

The government policies towards controlling the pandemic seem they are silently going towards herd immunity, which means the government is not able to do anything, so whoever is contracted the disease should fight himself/herself and if he/she survives that is good as he/she may have developed immunity, otherwise, whoever is dying should die.

The ineffective testing services, inadequate quarantine and medical facilities in government hospitals have made Pakistanis vulnerable to contract the pandemic diseases easily. The private hospitals in urban centres are minting money by providing costly testing and isolation facilities.

The state’s health facilities are inadequate and insufficient and cannot cater to the needs of every citizen. People also have no confidence in the government’s health facilities. The majority of infected or suspected patients prefer to stay at their homes in quarantine instead of going to government facilities for isolation.

A lot of my friends and colleagues who have been infected with the virus have opted to stay at their homes in isolation instead of going to hospitals for receiving medical treatment. A journalist friend of mine who opted for going to the hospital said that he was kept in a hospital room along with other three patients (which means they were a total of four in the room). Because he was a journalist, therefore, he received good attention and better treatment facilities in a government hospital, but he said that other journalists who were also admitted to the same government hospital had left the hospital saying there were poor healthcare facilities and they preferred to go to private hospitals.

Oxygen cylinders, some drugs which are said to be helpful in the treatment of Coronavirus have vanished from the medical stores in the markets. People are buying masks, sanitisers and hand gloves at exorbitant rates. Even Chinese-made cheaper digital oximeters are being sold at much higher rates because they are in high demand.

I received a message (SMS) from a prominent drugs selling company that it was selling oximeters (which is used on a finger) at the rate of Rs. 4000 per piece. You might have seen advertisements on social media where people are selling these gadgets at higher prices.

Even though the government has not officially declared its policy on herd immunity, there is strong evidence that it may opt. This is also evident from the government’s callous attitude towards the pandemic. The Supreme Court of Pakistan also played a key role when it allowed Eid shopping during the last week of Ramazan. People thronged to the shopping centres without taking preventive measures or following Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) set by the government for shopping centres. The number of COVID-19-positive patients has increased rapidly since the Eidul Fitre and the total number has even crossed 220,000 patients now and over 4000 deaths.

The Sindh provincial government, which took appreciable measures at the start of the pandemic early in March, has also stopped its vigorous efforts and is following the federal government’s policy of indifference.

In recent days, government figures indicate that number of tests has reduced, which ultimately has reported fewer patients per day. But the situation on the ground is miserable as many deaths due to the pandemic are not reported.

Mafias run Pakistani economy: Dr. Kaiser Bengali

According to Dr. Kaiser Bengali, an eminent economist Pakistani economy is mostly run by mafias, who often join politics and the government to get “legal benefits.”

These mafias enjoy monopoly profits, which they use to further strengthen their political designs.

Dr. Bengali, who remained Advisor to the past governments in Sindh, Balochistan and Centre, while speaking at an online post-budget 2020-21 webinar on Sunday said sugar, wheat flour, fertilizer and paper industries are minting money by availing various subsidies and incentives in the form of tax exemptions. Most of the owners of these industries are either in the government or they are relatives of the ministers.

“You have heard about the sugar scandal and a good thing has happened that an inquiry report has been made public, which exposed how the sugar mafia is looting the national wealth by adopting all “legal procedures.”

Describing further, Dr. Bengali said the sugar mafia provides wrong figures and manipulates the situation for their benefit. First, they export sugar and claim subsidies on exports then create a shortage in the country to raise its prices. These sugar mill owners are mostly politicians, who often make policies for their benefit. Sugar mills are not paying properly costs to sugarcane growers and swindle taxes like FED and GST through manipulation.

Flour mills receive wheat from the government’s procured stocks at subsidised rates. The main aim of this incentive is that they would supply flour at lower rates. In fact, these mills purchase wheat from the open market and then sell flour at higher by mixing the rates. “They put the subsidy on wheat in their pockets and sell flour at higher rates,” he said.

In Pakistan, three paper mills have created a cartel, which has made many publishing houses bankrupt as they sell paper at higher rates. “Now the situation is such that most of the curricular books, even in Urdu are published and imported directly from China and Indonesia as there is no import duty on published books. The paper mafia is so powerful that every year the government announces to change the duty structure, but it always fails to do so.

He said most of the fertilizer manufacturing units are owned by the Military subsidiaries in Pakistan, which receive Sui (natural) gas at very cheaper rates, almost free, and also receive subsidies on the selling of fertilizer to growers.

It is a matter of fact that more than 60 per cent of fertilizer is being used by Punjab, whereas Sindh consumes only 20 per cent. The Sui gas-producing province Balochistan consumes only 4 per cent of the fertilizer, thus most of the subsidy goes to Punjab at the cost of smaller provinces like Balochistan and Sindh that produce the natural gas.

“We have not seen the reverse transfer of the benefit from Punjab to Balochistan,” he said adding that Punjab does not provide any subsidy to Balochistan while supplying wheat the people of Balochistan have to purchase wheat at the market rates.

Watch the entire speech: Click here

Sacrilege of Hindu COVID-19 deceased in Dadu

Sindh’s customary secular and Sufi traditions were shattered when some religious zealots in Dadu city thrashed the body of a deceased Hindu Kewal Ram who died because of Coronavirus when his relatives were performing cremation at Shamshanghat, a dedicated place to perform the last rituals of Hindus.

These Muslim zealots, living in the neighbourhood forcibly entered the walled Shamshanghat and tried to intervene during the last rituals by putting out the fire while throwing buckets of water and desecrating the body.

Dadu was once famous for religious harmony where hundreds of Hindu families still live in a peaceful environment. In recent years, religious fanaticism has increased in Dadu city as well where religious mind Muslims have become intolerant.

According to reports, a group of religious zealots intervened in the cremation of Seth Kewal Ram Rathor, a notable Hindu and trader of Dadu city by asking the relatives not to perform cremation near their homes as the deceased had died of COVID-19. They were fearing the spread of the virus in the neighbourhood.

Click Here to watch the video

The relatives and Hindu notables of the area assured that cremation rituals were being done according to the government Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and there was no chance of the spread of the virus. However, the intruders were insisting to stop the rituals.

Local police were called, which forced the intruders to go out of the Shamshanghat and the final rituals were completed under the supervision of the Police.

According to the FIR, registered on behalf of the state, dozens of people had entered Shamshanghat and threatened the relatives of the deceased to stop the rituals because they were fearing the spread of the virus. Some of them were carrying buckets of water, which they threw on the fire in an attempt to put it out.

A press release, issued by Police department on Thursday stated that Dadu Police have arrested three nominated accused namely Izhar Solangi, Ghulam Hussain Solangi and Mohammad Yousuf Solangi. The FIR registered under Sections of 295A, 186, 296 and 297 Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) has nominated six persons whereas 20-25 others were included in the case.

Economic Survey paints dismal picture of economy

The provisional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of Pakistan for FY 2020 is estimated at negative 0.38 per cent on the basis of 2.67, -2.64 and -0.59 per cent growth in agricultural, industrial and services sectors respectively, states the Economic Survey of Pakistan 2019-20 released on Thursday, a day ahead of the presentation of Annual Budget 2020-21 in the National Assembly on Friday.

Presented by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Hafeez Sheikh the Economic Survey document has presented a dismal picture of Pakistan’s economy as most of the economic indicators have gone nose dive.

For example, the negative performance of both Industry and Services has overshadowed the growth in the agriculture sector, which grew by 2.67 per cent. This sector is badly hit by the locust swarms in Sindh and Punjab, the major agriculture provinces.

The economic team of the government has put all the burden of the downward slide of Pakistan’s economic indicators on the overall slowdown due to the lockdown after Coronavirus (COVID-19) in March 2020, although the economy was not performing well even before the start of COVID-19.

The provisional growth in the industrial sector has been estimated at -2.64 per cent mainly due to a negative growth of 8.82 per cent in the mining and quarrying sector and a decline of 7.78 per cent in the large-scale manufacturing sector. Due to the lockdown situation in the country, the growth estimates of the Small-Scale Industry for FY2020 are 1.52 per cent.

Similar to the industrial sector, the services sector of the economy has also witnessed a significant impact of the lockdown situation in the country due to COVID-19, particularly in the Wholesale and Retail Trade and Transport Sectors. The services sector has declined provisionally at 0.59 per cent mainly due to a 3.42 per cent decline in the Wholesale and Retail Trade sector and a 7.13 per cent decline in Transport, Storage and Communication sectors.

The finance and insurance sector, however, witnessed a slight increase of 0.79 per cent. The Housing Services, General Government Services and Other private services have contributed positively at 4.02, 3.92 and 5.39 per cent respectively.

The fiscal deficit has substantially reduced to 4.0 per cent of GDP during July-March, FY2020 against 5.1 per cent of GDP in the comparable period last year. Similarly, a remarkable turnaround is visible in the primary balance, which posted a surplus of Rs 194 billion during July-March, FY2020 against a deficit of Rs 463 billion. Overall, the improvement in the fiscal account is largely attributed to a higher provincial surplus and a sharp rise in non-tax revenues.

The government has retired Rs 736.47 billion to SBP against the borrowing of Rs 3,204.72 billion in last year. On contrary, the Government borrowed Rs 1,760.38 billion from scheduled banks against the retirement of Rs 2,213.85 billion last year.

Exports during July-April, 2019-20 remained at $ 19.7 billion compared to $ 20.1 billion during July-March, 2018-19, posting a decline of 2.4 per cent.

The total imports during July-April FY2020 declined to $ 36.1 billion as compared to $ 40.3 billion same period last year, thus registering a decline of 16.9 per cent.

During Jul-April FY2020, remittances increased to $ 18.8 billion as compared to $ 17.8 billion during the same period last year, with a growth of 5.5 per cent.

During July-March FY2020, the current account deficit (CAD) reduced by 73.1 per cent to US$ 2.8 billion (1.1 per cent of GDP) against US$ 10.3 billion last year (3.7 per cent of GDP). The significant reduction in CAD reflected mainly the impact of macroeconomic stabilization measures taken by the government.

The executive summary of the Economic Survey 2019-20 can be accessed online from the website of the Ministry of Finance. Please Click Here

Unabated use of religion against opponents in Sindh

Sindh has witnessed two recent incidents in which the religious tool of blasphemy law was (mis)used against the opponents.

In the first case, the state on Tuesday filed a blasphemy case against a professor of Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur Sajid Soomro with charges of contempt of Islam as he reportedly took part in the funeral of a Sindhi writer Atta Mohammad Bhanbhro. Prof. Soomro was later arrested by Khairpur police from his home early on Wednesday.

Prof. Sajid Soomro is also a famous writer and a member of Sindhi Abadi Sangat.

Another incident took place in Hyderabad where Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) Fazlur Rehman group started a social media campaign against a leader of Women Action Forum (WAF) Dr. Arfana Mallah alleging that she has done blasphemy by condemning the Blasphemy law. Interestingly this law has been condemned by many, but why JUI-F found it objectionable in the case of Dr. Mallah.

The JUI-F’s local leadership asked the party workers through a Facebook post to gather at a mosque in Bhitai Nagar and from there they will proceed to a police station to lodge an FIR against the women rights activists Prof. Dr. Mallah who is teaching at the University of Sindh, Jamshoro.

Dr. Mallah had played a key role in organising the Aurat March at Sukkur in March this year despite severe opposition by fanatics and religious leaders including provincial leadership of JUI-F. Before the March, the JUI Sindh had threatened to stop the march.

Later, Women Action Forum issued a press release condemning threats to Dr. Arfana Mallah. “We demand that police thwart such nefarious attempts and that this situation is handled in a timely and lawful manner before any damage is caused,” the WAF statement added.

Interestingly both the victims are professors of universities. According to the FIR against Prof. Soomro, the police have included Section 295-A of the Pakistan Penal Code, which pertains to deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.

Misuse of the Blasphemy law is quite common in Pakistan as this law, was made stringent by the Military dictator General Ziaul Haq and was misused against the opposition and minority activists. The law has hit vulnerable sections, especially women and minorities. In Sindh last year a couple of serious incidents happened in which people from the Hindu community were made targets.

I don’t know what is the main cause of concern for JUI-F leadership in Sindh this time against Dr. Mallah, but it is a matter of the fact that the religious zealots have always used this law as a tool to gain their nefarious designs.

According to a post by Azam Jahangiri of JUI F on Facebook, Dr. Arfana Mallah uttered derogatory words against the Blasphemy law in her Facebook post while condemning the registration of a case against Prof. Soomro. Therefore, his party under the leadership of Taj Mohammad Nahiyon is determined to lodge a blasphemy case against Dr. Mallah.

RIP Steel Mills

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the federal cabinet on Wednesday announced laying off all the 9,350 remaining employees of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) with a golden handshake incentive worth around Rs 20 billion.

Presided over by the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh the ECC, however, decided to retain about 250 employees for a period of 3 months for the execution of the human resource rationalisation plan and completion of formalities.

This news sent a shock-wave among the workers and trade unions, which have been demanding the release of salaries of workers. They have announced to launch of a movement against the PTI government’s move. The social media is filled with speeches by Prime Minister Imran Khan and Asad Umer who had addressed PSM workers before coming into power. They had pledged to revive the Mills and not to retrench any workers. The social media posts indicate they have done the opposite.

At least two retrenched workers of PSM Ejaz Samoo and Muhammad Yunus Baloch reportedly suffered heart attacks and died due to the shocking news.

At least five trade union leaders of Pakistan Steel including Yaseen Jamro, who is the Chairman of the current Collective Bargaining Agent (CBA) of the PSM (Steel Mills Insaf Union) were arrested while protesting outside the mills on Thursday and were later released by police.

According to the government, each employee would be paid an estimated amount of Rs 2.3 million.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on March 13, 2020, asked the federal government to lay off all the redundant employees and appoint new people if it wanted to keep PSM running.

Established by former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto with financial and technological support from the former Soviet Union in 1973 the Pakistan Steel Mills was once the largest industrial mega-corporation complex producing steel for industrial purposes. The project was formally launched by former Military dictator General Ziaul Haq on 15 January 1985.

Having a production capacity of 1.1 million tonnes of steel  Pakistan Steel Mills is spread out over an area of 7,550 hectares (18,660 acres) including 4,205 ha (10,390 acres) for the main plant, 3,266 ha (8,070 acres) for the township and 81 ha (200 acres) for the 110 MG water reservoir. In addition, it has leasehold rights over an area of 3,043 ha (7,520 acres) for the quarries of limestone and dolomite in the Makli and Jhimpir areas of the Thatta district. (For further details pl. visit: Pakistan Steel’s History.)

The PSM, which has been facing many crises since the 1990s stopped its commercial operations in June 2015 without formulating any human resource plan for its 14,753 employees which has since come down to 9,350 in 2019.

Despite its non-functional status, the fate of such a large number of employees remained undeclared as they have been demanding their dues since 2015.

During General Pervaiz Musharraf’s era, the federal government tried to privatise it, but the Supreme Court of Pakistan stopped its sale.

I can recall that I wrote a feature in monthly Newsline in its May 2006 issue with the title The Grand Steel Steal, in which I highlighted the military government’s design to sell an important national asset.

Although it was an inevitable decision on part of the government as it is unable to pay huge amounts of salaries to the employees, who are virtually kept redundant due to the non-functioning of the corporation since 2015. The successive governments had failed to revive the Steel Mills, which needed huge capital investment. Once the Sindh Government had shown interest to buy the Mills, but it backed out due to unknown reasons.

کورونا وائرس وبا، ماسک اور ہمارا رویہ

آج گلشن معمار میں بینک گیا. ہفتے کا پہلا دن ہونے کی وجہ سے رش بہت تھا. نمبر لے کر کونے میں بیٹھ گیا۔

دیکھا کہ کچھ لوگوں نے (مجھ سمیت) ماسک پہن رکھے تھے مگر کافی لوگ بغیر ماسک یا سیمی ماسک لگائے ہوئے تھے (مطلب ماسک تو لٹکا ہوا تھا مگر آپس میں بات کرتے ہوئے مونہہ سے ہٹارہے تھے۔).

ایک شخص جب گیٹ سے اندرآیا تو ماسک پہنا ہوا تھا. مگر بیٹھتے ہی ماسک جیب میں ڈال دیا۔ گیٹ کا چوکیدار بغیر ماسک کے اندر آنے نہیں دے رہا تھا۔

پاس میں دو پثھان بغیر ماسک کے ایک ساتھ بیٹھے تھے، ان کے کندھوں پر چادریں تھیں، جن کو مونہہ پر ڈال کر اندر آئے تھے مگر بیٹھتے ہی کپڑا ہٹا دیا. بینک افسر ان کے پاس آیا اور کہا کہ اپنا مونہہ ڈھاپ لیں یا ماسک پہن لیں. کہنے لگے گرمی ہے اور تمہارا اے۔سی بھی ٹھنڈک کم دے رہا ہے اس لیے کپڑا ہٹا دیا ہے. افسر کے اسرار پر بھی انہوں نے اپنا چہرہ کھلا ہی رکھا۔

جس بندے نے ماسک جیب میں ڈالا ہوا تھا اس کو بھی افسرنے پاس آکر کہا کہ ماسک پہن لو، مگر اس نے سنی ان سنی کردی اور ویسے ہی بیٹھا رہا۔ مگر جب اس کا نمبر آیا تو میں نے دیکھا کہ اس نے جیب سے ماسک نکالا اور پہن کر کھڑکی پر گیا۔

بیٹھے بیٹھے میں سوچتا رہا کہ ہماری قوم اس وبا کے پھیل جانے کے باوجود بھی کتنی نان (غیر) سیریس ہے اور میں ایسے رویوں پر افسوس کرتا رہا۔

پھر میرا نمبر کال ہوا۔ جب میں کھڑکی کے پاس پہنچا تو دیکھا کہ شیشے کے اس پار بیٹھے تمام کیشیئرز میں سے کسی ایک نے بھی ماسک نہیں پہنا ہوا تھا۔

Buckling under pressure

Originally published in The News on Sunday, May 17, 2020

Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced a gradual lifting of the countrywide lockdown from the coming week. The announcement followed a high-level meeting in Islamabad on May 7 to review the impact of Covid-19 on the country’s already weak economy. The PM’s emphasis was mainly on providing benefits to small traders and daily wage workers suffering economic losses due to the preventive lockdown.

Since then, the provincial governments have allowed a conditional easing of the lockdown, asking traders to follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) formulated by the authorities. The SOPs include wearing of masks, using hand sanitisers and keeping a safe distance to avoid the spread of the virus.

In Sindh and the Punjab, the businesses and shopping centres are now to open for general public from 9am to 5pm, four days a week. On Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays the businesses are to remain closed and the lockdown in place. The governments have warned that in case of violation of the SOPs, the relaxation may be reversed.

This seemingly abrupt decision to open markets amid growing cases of Covid-19 has worried medical practitioners, who have been demanding continuation of the lockdown for another couple of weeks.

On Wednesday (third day of lockdown relaxation), the government-released data of Covid-19 cases indicated the single largest daily jump in confirmed coronavirus cases with 2,255 new cases bringing the total number of infected people to 34,231 with a total of over 700 deaths.

Massive crowds and open flouting of the SOPs was witnessed at congested shopping centres in downtown Saddar area in Karachi. On Wednesday afternoon, the District South administration had to seal Zainab Market, the famous shopping centre known for selling garments, and Gul Plaza on MA Jinnah Road, where imported textiles and other items are sold.

In Lahore, the provincial government warned shopkeepers to follow the SOPs failing which easing of restrictions would be withdrawn.

On the first day of the relaxation (Monday), people were seen with children riding on bikes in Karachi while others were sitting very close to one another in rickshaws without any precaution, says Dr Sher Shah Sayed of the Pakistan Medical Association, Sindh.

A group of concerned citizens including professional doctors, civil society and women rights activists held a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Tuesday and demanded that the government re-impose the lockdown. Earlier, doctors’ bodies in all four provinces had warned the government not to ease the lockdown as the virus spread had reached an alarming level in Pakistan. Even though the death rate is still low in Pakistan, the healthcare services in Pakistan are already scant and testing facilities are limited to major cities.

The government had been under immense pressure from various quarters, including the powerful business community, to ease the lockdown as shopping activity ahead of Eid ul Fitr would be affected. The gradual lifting of lockdown was an attempt to release that pressure. However, this poses grave risks to public health.

Workers have faced a big squeeze in their earnings as many industries have started letting go of their workers, most of whom were employed on short-notice contracts. These unemployed workers are desperately looking forward to the opening of industries. Some industries, especially factories producing export textiles, have started their operations.

In the last week of March, the federal government had announced an emergency relief cash grant to lockdown-affected poor in the country. The scheme under the PTI-government’s flagship Ehsaas programme provided an amount of Rs 12,000 to each registered citizen divided over three months. According to the Ehsaas programme website, the government has distributed an amount of Rs 91.611 billion among 7.512 million beneficiaries so far. An overwhelming majority of workers has thus remained deprived because they were unable to fulfill the stringent conditions attached to qualifying for the scheme.

According to the latest Labour Force Survey (2017-18), the total workforce of the country is more than 65.5 million. The beneficiaries of this special scheme are therefore only 11.5 per cent of the total workforce. The prime minister had earlier admitted that the data of informal or daily wage workers was not available which is why his government was not able to reach the entire workforce.

Workers’ bodies have demanded unemployment allowance under the universalisation of social security. Currently, 58 million workers out of 65.5 million are registered with the government’s social security institutions, including Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI), according to data compiled by an Islamabad-based research institute, the Centre for Labour Research.

Economic experts believe that the pandemic has hit Pakistan’s economy hard. The IMF has already predicted that the overall GDP growth rate by the end of the current fiscal year would be 1.5 per cent as against State Bank’s projection of around 3 per cent. However, some economists say the coronavirus pandemic has also provided a cushion to provide a substantial relief to the people.

Dr Shahid Hassan Siddiqui, chairman of the Research Institute for Islamic Banking and Finance, says that because of reduction in oil prices and stabilisation of currency rate, the balance of trade and current account deficit have eased out. The IMF and Asian Development Bank have provided Covid-19 economic package and it is expected that inflation would be further reduced and imports would come down during the coming months.

He says that to provide relief to the poor the government may print currency notes worth Rs 300 billion and distribute it among the poor. This should be in addition to the amount the government is distributing under the Ehsaas programme. Dr Siddiqui says that such distribution would generate economic activity and the overall economy may revive by September this year. 

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The writer is a senior journalist currently working as a development communication professional in Karachi

4th time cut in policy rate @8%

For the 4th time in a row the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday announced another cut of 100 basis points (bps) in the Policy Rate by fixing it at 8%, a press release said.

The SBP has reduced the policy rate by a cumulative 525 bps since 17 March 2020.

According to the central bank, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at its meeting on 15th May 2020 made the latest adjustment in the Policy Rate. This decision reflected the MPC’s view that the inflation outlook has
improved further in light of the recent cut in domestic fuel prices.

As a result, inflation could fall closer to its lower end of the previously announced ranges of 11-12 per cent this fiscal year and 7-9 per cent next fiscal year, the press release added.

It was a long-standing demand of the traders to reduce the interest rate to facilitate their borrowings from banks. The traders have been demanding to reduce the Policy Rate to 2-3 per cent.

To facilitate the businessmen from the economic shocks of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) related lockdown in Pakistan the central bank has already announced a special scheme to provide soft loans to the private sector so that they can retain and pay salaries to their employees during the lockdown closure of the offices. On April 10, 2020, the SBP announced an incentive scheme entitled Refinance Scheme for Payment of Wages and Salaries to the Workers and Employees of Business Concerns.

The SBP enhanced its refinance limits to finance up to 100% of wages and salaries of businesses with an average 3- month wage bill of up to Rs 500 million. This can be used for the onward payment of wages and salaries in April, May and June 2020. Earlier, 100% financing was available up to a wage bill of Rs 200 million only. Similarly, for businesses with a 3-month wage bill exceeding Rs 500 million, State Bank will now finance of up to 75% with maximum financing of Rs 1 billion. Earlier, 75% financing was available up to a maximum of Rs 375 million and 50% up to a maximum of Rs 500 million.

The profits on bank deposits, term deposits and fixed deposit schemes would further be reduced as the commercial banks including National Saving Centre have already reduced their rates to a minimal level and pensioners and widows who have been investing in various schemes to earn regular income would receive less amount. Currently, term deposit profits range from 7 to 7.5 percent when the discount rate was 9 per cent. These banks will certainly reduce it further to bring to the level of 6 yo 6.5 percent.

Locust attack: Pakistan may face food shortage this year

Last year swarms of locusts had attacked many parts of Sindh and other parts of the country by the end of May and destroyed about 15% of the standing crops. The locust initially came from Iran and other Gulf Arabian countries via Balochistan. They spread over upper Sindh’s districts and also in some areas of Southern Punjab. The areas right from the Nara Desert in Khairpur district in Sindh to the Cholistan Desert in Rahimyar Khan, the Punjab province attacked crops. In Sindh districts like Sanghar, Umerkot, and Tharparkar were also hit hard by locust swarms.

Sindh government raised hue and cry and sought support from the federal government in a vain.

Finally, the federal government had to declare a “national emergency” on January 31, 2020, to eliminate the attacking swarms of the desert locust, which have destroyed crops on a larger scale. The federal government had also approved a National Action Plan (NAP) with an estimated allocation of PKR 7.3 billion to overcome the crisis.

But this year the swarms have come to Sindh quite early (in April) with severe intensity and according to reports the locusts may completely destroy the cotton crop in the affected districts, as the crop was in its initial stage. It seems if the swarms are destroyed the farmers have to sow the crop late again to save their production, experts say.

This year, the locust attack is so severe and widespread that the farmers fear the country may face a famine line situation.

So far 35% of the total area affected by locust attack is in Sindh, said the provincial minister for Agriculture Ismail Rahu at a press briefing on May 5, 2020. “This is an emergency situation that needs immediate attention,” he said.

The photo was taken from the wall of Meghwal Malji

According to the United Nation’s agency Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) at a 25% damage level, the total potential losses are estimated to be about PKR 353 billion (USD 2.2 billion) for the Rabi crops, and about PKR 464 billion (USD 2.9 billion) for Kharif crops.

The Sindh government has been complaining to the federal government for not cooperating in combating the locusts’ attacks. Sindh government needed aircraft from the federal government for pesticide sprays, but Minister Rahu complained that the federal government was not providing aircraft despite the fact the provincial government had agreed to provide fuel for those machines.

Instead, the central government provided aircraft to the Punjab government for spraying on locust swarms. Last year even a special aircraft used for spraying the vast areas in Southern Punjab was crushed and two persons, the pilot, and aircraft engineer were killed.

This is an alarming situation for a country like Pakistan, which is quite self-sufficient in food production, but in the midst of the additional impacts of COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus Pandemic) the health, livelihoods, food security and nutrition are under threats, which may impact the most vulnerable communities and populations of Pakistan. An FAO report has suggested that it is imperative to contain and successfully control the desert locust infestation.  

The FAO claimed that in 2019, the Pakistan government’s Department of Plant Protection (DPP), and Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MFSR) surveyed an area of 932,580 hectares and treated 300,595 hectares in three provinces, consuming 150,839 litres of pesticides. Of the hectares treated, 20,300 hectares were cleared by aerial spraying.

But this massive operation to kill the locusts seemed to be futile as this year’s attack is so massive in upper Sindh and Southern Punjab that it is feared that most of the cotton crop would be damaged.

Eating locusts

Last year social media was amused with the reports and video clips of people making Biryanis of Locusts in various parts of Sindh.  According to a news report in Thar’s Chhachharo area, restaurants were selling biryanis and curry dishes made from locusts.

Even in a lighter mode, Sindh Agriculture Minister Ismail Rahu suggested a “bizarre solution” to fight locust manifestation by asking the people to cook the insects and enjoy delicious dishes made with locusts.

In Arab countries, people are still fond of eating fried locusts which they serve with rice but the insect dishes in this part of the Sub-Continent are mostly not popular. Even in Sindh people have stopped eating them.

Even some people started asking questions from religious scholars whether eating locusts are Halal or Haram. According to a scholar, locusts are Halal and can be eaten if people wish.