Editorial March

THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE
1- CORPORATE GIVING AND POVERTY

ALLEVIATION
The launch of the Poverty Alleviation Programme Ehsas, this week by the Prime Minister recognises poverty
as problem number one. There are only two known paths to overcome mass poverty. One is the Chinese way
of double-digit growth sustained over at least two decades to push people out of poverty. The other is a caring
state and society helping people out of poverty. In the past decade and half, growth in Pakistan has been less
than the historic average of six per cent. Even this average was far less than the potential. The state, even in
the best of times, has never spent more than four per cent of GDP on social sector and transfers to the poor,
leaving a huge gap to be filled by society. While we like to imagine ourselves as the most giving nation on
earth, the undocumented sources and beneficiaries have landed us in trouble with the international watchdogs
of terror financing.
However, there are many documented sources of giving. Among these, the most documented is the Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR). The PM‘s programme aims to better target the CSR.
Looking at the current status here. With UNDP assistance (it seems no report is possible any more without
assistance from somewhere abroad), Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy has published a report, ‗Corporate
Philanthropy in Pakistan 2017‘. It covers 464 Public Listed Companies (PLCs), 204 Public Unlisted
Companies (PUCs) and 208 Private Limited Companies (PvLCs). The largest amount of Rs7.56 billion came
from PLCs, 79 per cent of which was contributed by top 25 companies of the group. The contribution by the
PUCs and the PvLCs was just Rs1.03 billion and Rs1.5 billion. The larger the company the more it gives. To
see how much is enough, the absolute numbers have to be put in some perspective. Like the never -achieved
target of 0.7 per cent of GNP for Overseas Development Assistance, the target for corporate giving is one per
cent of profit before tax. (Originally, the international target was also one per cent of GNP as it included
private flows also.) According to the report, the PUCs have contributed 0.7 per cent of their profits before tax.
Since 2012, the gap has been widening rather than narrowing.
Where is the money going? The report maps CSR programmes around Multi Poverty Index (MPI) and Human
Development Index (HDI) to conclude ―that the neediest areas do not get much of CSR spending‖. There
seems to be a problem with the mapping exercise. As per the report, the CSR foundations and departments
spend 41 per cent of their resources on quality education, 28 per cent on good health and eight per cent on
CFP BEST INFORMATION CIC CFP BEST INFORMATION CIC CFP BEST INFORMATION CIC CFP BEST INFO Page 1
clean water and sanitation. Also, the report finds that the oil and gas exploration companies are the largest
contributor to CSR. These companies are located in the poorest and the most backward areas. What else is the
definition of the needy areas in the eyes of the authors of the report? In a goal-counting exercise, the report
observes, ―Undoubtedly, health and education are the areas where Pakistan is lagging behind even the poorest
countries in the world but other areas included in the SDGs are equally important and need to be focused on.
The least focused Sustainable Goal is ‗No Poverty‘ which only gets 0.12% share from the total annual
giving.‖ This after admitting that poverty is multidimensional! ‗No Poverty‘ can only be the outcome of
multiple interventions, education and health being the most important. This is also the message of Ehsas.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 29th, 2019.
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE >
2- SINDH AND THE STATE OF GENDER

EQUALITY IN EDUCATION
The World Economic Forum‘s Global Gender Gap Report (2018), which measures economic participa tion
and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and empowerment, ranked Pakistan second -to-
last globally and last regionally in South Asia.
Markers such as socioeconomic status, locality, and language have an impact on education outcomes , but
gender most significantly impacts a student‘s ability to perform well academically in Pakistan. Sindh
province, in particular, illustrates this reality.
There was a time when Sindh province excelled, competing country‘s number 1 province of Punjab in
education outcomes. But OXFAM Pakistan‘s recent report on a comparative analysis of gender responsive
financing in Punjab and Sindh provinces (2016) revealed that gender parity has increased in Punjab by 3 per
cent, whereas it has declined by the same percentage in Sindh. It also highlights that the majority of girls‘
schools in Sindh do not have basic facilities like toilets, drinking water, or boundary walls.
Significantly, there are huge gender disparities in budget allocation for education in Sindh wit h only 19 per
cent of its budget in 2016-17 earmarked for girls‘ education, compared to 48 per cent of the budget for boys‘
education. Gender responsive budgeting is also complicated by the opacity of major categories in the
education budget, which are not disaggregated by gender.
Pakistan‘s education statistics from 2016-17 also reveal alarming gender disparities in education in Sindh.
Eight million students are enrolled in education institutions from primary to degree level in Sindh, of which
just 42 per cent are girls.
However, approximately 6.4 million children are still out of school, the majority (53 per cent) of which are
girls. Effective Transition Rate (ETR) between primary and lower secondary levels, which flags potential
barriers in the education system, is also less than 80 per cent in Sindh, similar to Balochistan and FATA. Low
Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) coupled with low ETR results in a worrying phenomenon: many school -aged
students, particularly girls, do not receive an education after lower secondary level.
Another key issue is the low number of female-only education institutions in Sindh. From pre-primary to
degree colleges, there are 55,247 public and private educational institutions. The majority (61%) are male -
only institutions, 19 per cent are mixed, and only 21 per cent are female-only educational intuitions.
Institutions for girls in rural areas are mere 15 per cent of the total educational institutions in Sindh,
illustrating the inequality in providing access to education, which directly and disproportionately affects
women and girls living in rural areas of the province.
Further compounding the low prevalence of girls‘ schools in Sindh is a critical lack of female teachers in
public schools, particularly in rural areas.
Female teachers constitute only 32 per cent of public institutions‘ teaching workforce, a figure much lower
than national average (42 per cent), and even lower than Balochistan and FATA (33 per cent). In rural Sindh,
80 per cent of the teaching workforce is male. While normatively, institutions prefer to recruit women at the
primary level, women only comprise 26 per cent of teachers at this level, where the levels of enrolment are
generally highest.
At the district level, the Sindh government‘s data shows that Tharparkar has the lowest number (14 per cent)
of female teachers compared to (86 per cent) male teachers, whereas Sujawal, Kashmore and Ghotki districts
also report lower numbers of female teachers (20 per cent) in their teaching work force. This absence of
female teachers deters parents from sending their girls to school past a certain age, thus significantly limiting
their educational future.
Moreover, simply increasing access to education does not ensure quality. Thus, reform initiatives should
address the gender biases in education textbooks. The government needs to prioritise and institutionalise
revising textbooks and associated curricula through comprehensive gender review and analysis as regular
practise.
In order to effectively address the glaring inequalities in the Sindh education system, women‘s representation
also needs to be equitable and responsive. Unfortunately, women‘s representation in leadership positions and
policy-making roles is also insignificant. Approximately 80 per cent of major educational institutions, such as
STEDA, PITE, RSU, DCAR and Education Directorates, are mainly headed and dominated by men. Women
lack any substantive representation in policy forums.
One recent success has been the establishment of a Gender Unit within the Sindh Education Department, a
major hallmark which can promote gender-inclusive policy-making and ensure implementation of gender
gap-closing agendas. The Gender Unit also engages with a working group tasked with advising and
supporting the government on achieving gender parity in education.
However, the Gender Unit is not currently fully functional and still faces problems with a lack of required
resources and capacity, which is indicative of the government‘s commitment to gender equality in education
at the strategic level. The Sindh Gender Unit — if fully funded, staffed and institutionalised — has the
potential to model gender-equitable education across Pakistan and slowly regain its former position as a
leader in delivering quality education systems.
Despite these setbacks, it is encouraging to observe that girls‘ enrolment, while still comparatively low, is
increasing in Sindh. However, given the gross enrolment ratio and transition rate, lack of girls‘ schools, and
dearth of female teachers, Sindh needs to make drastic and concerted efforts to respond to the gender gaps in
its education system.
Education of girls, and subsequently that of women, will not improve without deliberate efforts, which are
currently missing, notably in allocation of resources and implementation. Improving gender parity in
education, with a focus on girls‘ education, should be the first priority of the Sindh Education Department.
This goal can only be met by working systematically to address gaps, allocate resources, improve ground
conditions, recruit female teachers, establish institutions, and strengthen gender analyses, reviews, and
feedback loops to achieve equitable quality education.
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3- TURNAROUND IN PAKISTAN
The Quaid-e-Azam gave us the vision of a modern democratic nation which promised human rights, women‘s
rights and minority rights to every citizen. I have been heartened to note that Prime Minister Imran Khan who
is an enthusiastic supporter of the Quaid is vigorously trying to follow in his footsteps. In this he faces many
challenges but he is moving in the right direction. He deserves our support.
The present government came into power nearly seven months ago. It‘s too short a time to achieve any
national target in any country and more so in a country like Pakistan with a backlog of systemic stagnation for
decades but we have seen that this government has been able to initiate a turnaround in the mindsets of people
as well as regarding priorities of the government. Now we can see that important issues for peopl e like health,
education, environment and human rights rank among the priorities of the government.
For me, the biggest achievement of this government is giving a turnaround to the mindset of the nation as a
whole by setting the agenda in right direction, re-setting the priority ranking of issues and above all turning
the psychology of nation to one of self-respect and receptiveness to its strengths. Now the issues of concern
to a common man and those of future generations are right at the table of the Prime Minister and the solutions
are right in his mind. The use of Pakistan Citizen‘s Portal in this regard, which recently came second best out
of 4,646 mobile applications of various categories from 87 countries at the World Government Summit in the
UAE, certainly cannot be discounted.
Today an ordinary Pakistani also feels that the matters people used to discuss with their families and friends
thinking how to bring those concerns in the knowledge of top man are now raised by the Prime Minister
himself. People feel respected by those at the helm of power as the government has set the focus of each and
every programme for the benefit of the common man.
In his speeches, the Prime Minister has clearly spelled out minute details of causes of poverty, the problems
of small farmers, the strengths of our resources and the specific programmes to solve the problems in the vital
areas like climate, education, health, economy and so on. His in-depth knowledge of issues would definitely
serve as a strong check on implementers, both bureaucrats and elected representatives alike.
This is the first-ever government in Pakistan that has brought lurking challenges of climate change and water
shortage into spotlight and has initiated actions like plantation and construction of dams. Never in the past
had these vital issues ever found even an iota of attention. The lives of the people of Pakistan were pushed
into hazardous situation by sheer negligence of these important issues.
The present government is also gearing up the nation for solution-oriented actions. Measures are actually
being adopted by the government to solve many problems. Till now, people of Pakistan were led to believe in
being poor and weak. Prime Minister Imran Khan has made us realise that our country is rich with wealth of
resources and has talked about various ways to tap and optimise them.
The Prime Minister has made us perceive strength of our geopolitical situation and the potential of our
demography with young and vibrant population. Tourism, which has been one of the most neglected sectors
since the independence, is a major untapped area where this government is again taking a lead.
The inauguration of the e-visa service for majority of the countries in the world will significantly aid in
ushering in a new era of tourism that will help in generating revenue and positive propagation of the warmth
of the people of this land. No doubt this is psychology of strength that helps people sail through the crises. I
am glad to note that the diplomatic staff of Pakistan around the world, especially in places like the UK, are
taking a proactive approach in line with the PM‘s vision.
A vast range of programmes are in pipeline to address the needs of the downtrodden and weaker segments of
society which clearly indicate the element of compassion, a hall mark of all the past projects executed by PM
Khan in his personal capacity. The actions of current government have manifested that it is responsive to the
people as today we hear government talk about the needs of poorest of the poor.
The Prime Minister in his speech on the occasion of completion of ‗100 Days of Government‘ very well
marked out the difference between the animal kingdom where the rule is survival of the fittest and the human
society where compassion for weaker comes first. These values of governance are respected not only by the
Muslims for their association with the state of Medina but also by the most democratic and social welfare
states of the West in modern times.
Under the present government, direction has been set, the issues concerning common man ranked in right
order and above all a transformation of mindset and psychology of the nation has started. The turnaround is
for ordinary people, the weak and the downtrodden. I, a common man, can now feel things are being initiated
for me and my future generations. But I also have some responsibility to make it happen.
It‘s up to me to help the government. Each one of us will have to make our contribution by showing patience
and supporting the good effort of the government and reporting to right quarters where we see anything
wrong.
Our Prime Minister has proved that when you raise your voice, you are heard and you can get things moving
in the right direction. I would like to raise a few points which I hope the Prime Minister will consider
sympathetically: every effort should be made to unite the country; justice should be done irrespective of one‘s
religious, economic or political status; minority communities of Pakistan must be treated equally and fairly
while being empowered to live and work freely in all walks of life; and religious freedom should be
guaranteed and nobody forced to change their religion.
The government, the Prime Minister, the armed forces and the people of Pakistan are to be congratulated on
the way they dealt with the confrontation with India, and the whole world has witnessed that Pakistan is vying
for a meaningful dialogue with India to settle all outstanding issues by talking and not by fighting. Long Live
Pakistan!
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE > OPINION
TWO WRONGS DON’T MAKE A RIGHT
After the horrific and inhumane act of terrorism at two Christchurch mosques, security and counter -
extremism analysts are pontificating as to what were the push and pull factors that led to the most devastating
terrorist attack on New Zealand‘s soil.
As the dots are being connected, what is clear is that this was a premeditated and well-coordinated attack to
ensure maximum publicity and impact across the globe. The protagonist had the audacity to live-stream his
mass killing rampage on Facebook and post his motivations for undertaking this gruesome act in a de facto
pseudo manifesto titled ‗The Great Replacement — Towards A New Society — We March Ever Forwards‘,
which was circulated across online social media platforms and emailed to the office of New Zealand Prime
Minister Jacinda Ardern in advance of the barbaric attack.
The pseudo manifesto and blueprint for the attacks features a canopy of racist, nationalistic, white
supremacist rhetoric where Tarrant seeks to justify his rationale for the targeted killing rampage drawing
inspiration from Anders Breivik, the Norwegian far-right terrorist who committed the 2011 Norway attacks.
If there is any difference between the two, it is that Brevick‘s was an indiscriminate killing rampage where he
detonated a van bomb in Oslo killing eight people and then shot dead 69 participants of a Workers‘ Youth
League (AUF) summer camp in the Island of Utoya whereas Tarrant specifically targeted Muslims attending
and frequenting their local mosques for Friday prayers.
It is important to understand that the horrific mass killing rampage undertaken by Tarrant via the pretext of a
white supremacist far-right nationalistic ideology is not something that has happened in isolation. It has
culminated via the rise of what is often termed as alt-right nationalistic social and political movements in the
US and Europe. The rhetoric that is dished out by such groups incorporates all the hallmarks of the language
used in the pseudo ‗The Great Replacement‘ document with language that incorporates anti -Muslim hatred,
nationalistic, xenophobic and racist vitriol. Political parties such as UKIP, EDL, Britain First, Party for
Freedom, National Rally and Pegida all align to this same ideology across the UK and mainland Europe. This
is also being fuelled by the likes of Steve Bannon, the former executive chairman of the alt -right American
news platform Brietbart who helped spearhead and galvanise Donald Trump‘s nationalistic alt-right populist
base that led to his victory in the US Election of 2016. Bannon is now attempting to create a similar pan far -
right nationalistic European social and political phenomenon via his new organisation ‗The Movement‘.
In 2016, Labour Party MP Jo Cox was shot dead by Thomas Alexander Mair who had links to far-right
political groups. Year 2017 saw an attack where a van was driven into a pedestrian near the Finsbury Park
Mosque by David Osborne who had been galvanised to undertake a revenge attack after a series of terrorist
incidents earlier in the year which included the West Minister Bridge attack orchestrated by Khalid Masood
injuring 50 people and leading to the death of a unarmed police officer. This was followed by the Manchester
Arena suicide bombing where 23 people died, including the attacker Salman Ramadan Abedi, and thereafter
the London Bridge Attack where the assailants — Khuram Shazad Butt, Rachid Redoune and Youssef
Zaghba — embarked on a vehicle ramming and stabbing terrorist enterprise in the London Borough Market
leading to eight fatalities and numerous injured. It was reported that the attackers were inspired by Islamic
State (IS) to undertake their heinous terrorist act.
To further demonstrate the pendulum of hate that is simmering at our shores, David Parnham was charged
with soliciting murder in 2018 by sending coordinated letters to multiple postal addresses across the UK
calling on people to launch violent attacks against Muslims on ―Punish a Muslim Day‖, where the content of
the letter featured fictitious points reward system based on the severity of the punishment inflicted on
Muslims.
―The Great Replacement — Ethnic Replacement‖, white supremacist nationalistic agenda does not only
specifically target Muslims per se, but all ‗invaders‘ that are none-white and have been part and parcel of
western mainland for many decades or have recently migrated and settled there. It specifically focuses on
topics such as the high fertility rates of non-white cultures which will subsequently pose a significant threat to
―conventional European Identity‖ with one of the key ways to control this is the extermination of individuals
and their offspring who belong to these predominantly none-white cultures and nations. The notion of
citizenship for all races is dismantled by this warped racist agenda.
What this brief chronology of terrorist incidents in New Zealand and the UK demonstrates is that the
protagonists of terror are using warped pseudo ideological narratives at social, political or mi sconstrued
religious level to justify their vile acts.
Whilst some of the attacks may be individually inspired by what is commonly coined as ―lone actors‖, many
of them are inspired by the far-right with similar shock-and-awe tactics via online social media platforms to
generate the widest publicity and fear amongst the population.
In the wake of the Christchurch mosque attacks, it is critical for governments, national intelligence, security
and social media companies to up the ante and put in place strict regulatory and protective measures to curtail
the individuals and concerted groups who espouse the language and narrative of hate, no matter what side of
the spectrum it is emanating from as if it is left unchecked it would lead to devastating loss of inno cent lives
as sadly witnessed in Christchurch. It is also of upmost importance that the security and safety of the places
of worship — synagogues, mosques, churches and temples — are upgraded while respecting the sanctity of
religions and protecting human solace and peaceful existence.
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE

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SOCIAL MEDIA — THE NEW BATTLEFIELD
Keeping the tactical debate aside, let‘s analyse the current Indo-Pak situation from critical security
perspective. The concept of critical security revolves around human security. This concept focuses security at
the very micro level i.e. security of humans, unlike traditional state-centric security approach. This approach
is subjected to the protection and welfare of citizens from all possible security threats.
An important aspect of human security is protecting perceptions and opinions of the public. In the age of
propaganda warfare and with social media becoming the central information dissemination platform,
manipulation of public opinion has become a major threat. India has time and again resorted to this tactic.
In 2016, post Uri attack, Indian military and media claimed to strike ―terrorist camps‖ killing dozens of
―terrorists‖ across LoC. The Uri attack was called ―the deadliest assault on security forces in Kashmir in two
decades‖. The government and media in India took to social media to propagate a series of misinformation to
orchestrate ―proofs‖ of Pakistani involvement in the attack.
After the Uri attack, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, the DGMO, declared that the Indian Army had completed different
surgical operations in different areas of Azad Kashmir on the night of Sept 29, 2016. The DG ISPR claimed
the hoax of surgical strikes as ―illusion being deliberately generated by India to create false effects‖.
Inquisitively, while the official reactions by India and Pakistan have been moderately measured and
deliberate, the media‘s part, particularly in India, is progressively that of unhinged warmongering. A war of
narratives ejects on TV and social media out of vengeance to ―teach a lesson‖ to Pakistan.
Two years on, India has again resorted to allegations in the same manner – claiming Pulwama to be the
―deadliest attack‖, threatening retaliation and then violating international borders only to ―celebrate
successful tactical venture‖.
The plot has been the same. Difference each time is that the Pakistani population is getting used to these
―strikes‖ while resorting to peace and collaborations. It is unfortunate to see the cheery and provocative
responses from Indian celebrities over Twitter and Facebook while there has been a calculated response from
the Pakistanis who have scrutinised the veracity of the occasion and resorted to peace.
Narratives and discourse have the power to shape and influence opinions, thus changing the shape of history.
The capacity to scatter realistic pictures and thoughts to shape the opinion in matters of national interest to
impact global population, especially the targeted one, through social media has become a norm. This diverts
the opinion and general understanding of the individual. The key to successful influence on public sentiments
is constant and identical discourse for a certain period. The side initiating discourse has information
dominance. This is what India, on every provocative situation, has successfully practised. When such
propaganda is countered with logic, it nullifies the impact.
What Indian media and government strategists need to understand is that lies and misinformation cannot
remain unchallenged in this era. The dilemma with the media around the world is that it chooses to promote
habitual skepticism and distrust over constructive interpretation. In escalating situations, public opinion is
precarious for any nation. Opinion at large can be managed keeping the public and institutes under obligation
alike. Institutions have their objectives. Their activities are hemmed in the realm of those objectives and
vision. Beyond institutes, it is the general public and the civil society that provide a comprehensive solution
to counter the misguided narratives. Public on both sides is supporting the stance of their government and the
action of their army. Public has the responsibility to go with rationality, and accept only what is better for
humanity as a whole. Hence, it is not just the responsibility of institutes to play their part in opinion making,
it is the collective responsibility of every segment of society to express opinion in a constructive manner and
counter those opinions which pose a threat to national solidarity and development.
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE > OPINION
PEACE TALKS OR WAR PLANS?
They say peace is the period after war for the preparation of the next war. The peace talks between the
Taliban and the United States in Doha are aimed at that sort of peace.
As I had written about my prediction in this space here before, an alliance of convenience could emerge
between the Taliban and the United States — one aimed at fighting against the looming threat of Islamic
State (IS) in Afghanistan. The IS views the region including Afghanistan, India and Pakistan as part of the
Khorasan region in their greater Islamic state.
Now that the IS has been defeated in Syria to a convincing extent, there is more reason to believe that their
remnants would look east to the fertile grounds of Afghanistan and would actually start the long march to
regroup. And now IS would be focused on taking revenge from the United States more than ever. Their soft
launch in Afghanistan from few years ago would soon be replaced by a hard and aggressive one.
Five of the men representing Taliban sitting across the table from the American negotiators were inmates in
Guantanamo Bay for 13 years until they got a lucky break when the Taliban in Afghanistan captured the
American soldier Sgt Bowe Bergdahl, the only American POW held by Taliban, who was later swapped for
these five men. One of them was Mullah Khairkhwa.
Some Taliban leaders during talks with the Americans give emotional speeches urging that America must
leave Afghanistan now. The American negotiators, led by Zalmay Khalilzad, in return try to explain how
withdrawal being a complex process required time. The peace talks at times resemble a poker table.
Controlling the emotions is the key. That‘s why Khairkhwa, who used to be a governor as well as an acting
interior minister during the Taliban rule, checks his emotions at the door before entering the room for talks.
He says, ―In important moments like this, my own personal troubles don‘t come to mind. I am really not
thinking about who is sitting across from me and what they had done to me. What is important is what we are
talking about, and what is in it for our interests, for our goal and for our country.‖
Accused of being a narco trafficker in Afghanistan in the past, Khairkhwa is looking beyond his prison
hardship and grievances.
Contrary to the general belief of Americans becoming war-weary after a long conflict, they have actually
become reason-weary. Many Americans I have talked to didn‘t tell me that the US should mind its own
business and stop fighting wars abroad.
Instead, they argue that Iraq‘s was an unjust war and while Afghanistan was a just war, Bin Laden and
Mullah Omar are long gone, so America should just come home. And then many of them add that there are
more threats from other countries like Russia, China, and Iran that should be focused on. So, the way I see it
is that it is the actual specific war that the Americans get tired of not the idea of going to war.
No wonder the peace talks with the Taliban have started to sound like war plans between former inmates and
their captors. Gen Austin S Miller, the commander of the American and NATO forces in Afghanistan who
had narrowly escaped death in a Taliban attack that killed Gen Abdul Raziq, directly told his former inmates,
―We could keep fighting, keep killing each other or, together, we could kill ISIS.‖
The next war would be against IS with the Taliban as the mercenary army. Expect enormous profits for Erik
Prince. Expect the American media calling the Taliban revolutionary freedom fighters or something similarly
heroic. This peace dialogue is a prelude to the next war.
THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE > OPINION > EDITORIAL
DAMAGING OUR FAMILY SYSTEMS
This year‘s Aurat March was met with unprecedented backlash as members of the Sindh Assembly demanded
action against the organisers of the event, calling it ‗vulgar‘.
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly passed a unanimous resolution against the event as it was ‗un-Islamic‘
and had ‗hidden elements involved in a conspiracy to damage our family system and societal traditions‘.
Given such reactions, one would think our lawmakers have a very clear understanding of societal and
religious morality which they and members of society follow scrupulously, and the issues raised in the Aurat
March are mere figments of imagination of one half of our country‘s population. Unfortunately, the existence
of such a morally upright society is mere wishful thinking.
In this week alone, we have seen horrific cases of domestic abuse. Women have been beaten, stripped naked,
raped, harassed and blackmailed by their own husbands, brothers and brothers-in-law.
Despite these ghastly crimes, none of our lawmakers have raised their voices in support of these women nor
have they called these abuses what they really are: vulgar, un-Islamic and damaging to our family system.
This does not even come as a surprise, as when the Sindh Assembly and the Punjab Assembly had proposed
the Women‘s Protection Bill in 2013 and 2016 respectively, they had received the same backlash that the
Aurat March did.
Fortunately for these women, the above mentioned laws were ratified and they were able to file cases against
their abusers, albeit with great difficulty as even the police refused to cooperate in the case of Asma Aziz
until she had provided them with compensation.
Our lawmakers should focus more on implementing a smooth process for women who are seeking protection
with the state, rather than hiding from the real issues like ostriches.
PROTESTING TEACHERS
Mercifully for some 1.5 million students of Sindh province, including 350,000 belonging to Karachi, the
threat of yet another delay in matriculation examinations across the province has been averted. A serious
protest by teachers threatened postponement of the exams, for a third time, but the provincial government
intervened successfully to ensure that the exams are held from April 1.
Originally scheduled to start from March 20, the exams were first delayed, by five days, because of the Hindu
holy festival of Holi, in what was pertinently reasoned on a gesture of religious harmony and goodwill.
Rescheduled to commence from March 25, the exams were again postponed till April 1 due to a protest by the
employees of various education boards of the province against a proposal to set up Sindh Education Boards
Regulatory Authority. The employees believe that such an authority would compromise the autonomy of the
seven education boards of the province. The two-week-long protest affected preparations for holding the
exams. Hence, a delay of about one week.
And when all had been settled, a threat of exams boycott by government teachers in the province loomed
large. More than two thousand teachers hit the streets of Karachi while calling for, among other things,
promotions based on a time-scale formula and a change in the management cadre. During this protest, the
teachers were treated with batons, teargas and water shots by security forces as they attempted to force their
way into the ‗red zone‘ that houses important buildings like the CM House and the Governor House.
With the disgruntled teachers having been brought round to give up their protest, all now looks set for the
exams to start from April 1. However, the situation exposes the vulnerability of our examination system to
delays and postponements for one reason or the other. Sadly though, it‘s nobody else than those associated
with the noble profession of teaching who exploit this ‗opportune‘ time for getting their demands fulfilled.
‘EHSAS’ AND CHINA’S TURNAROUND
China‘s dramatic rise from poverty is truly inspirational. According to World Bank, 500 million people were
lifted out of extreme poverty in China over the last three decades so much so that today poverty in China
refers mainly to the rural poor. Poverty rate in China — as measured by the percentage of people living on the
equivalent of $1.90 or less per day in the 2011 purchasing price parity terms — fell from 88% in 1981 to
6.5% in 2012. From there onwards, the percentage of people living below the international poverty line
continued to fall to 4.1% in 2014 to 2% in 2018 — with President Xi Jinping upbeat about completely
eradicating poverty by 2020.
Imran Khan‘s admiration of China‘s poverty alleviation efforts is well known. Time and again has the Prime
Minister, in his speeches, quoted the miraculous rise from poverty of the Chinese population, accounting for
more than three-quarters of global poverty reduction. Eyeing a similar turnaround, Prime Minister Imran has
launched Ehsas (meaning compassion) — an ambitious social safety and poverty alleviation programme
meant to ensure five things to the public as their fundamental right. These five things are food, shelter,
clothing, education and healthcare. Under the programme, the Prime Minister says, the money spent on
underprivileged segments of society will be increased by an ‗unprecedented‘ Rs120 billion by the year 2020.
The PM talks of amending Article 38(D) of the Constitution and creating a new ministry for social protect ion
and poverty alleviation to ensure the five fundamental rights — with the former measure aimed at enabling
people to approach the courts in case of the government‘s failure to protect these rights. While that shows the
PM‘s Ehsas for public welfare, his idea of poverty alleviation can only work if it is backed by a
comprehensive economic reforms programme. In case of China too, it was a protracted period of high
economic growth that helped its people get rid of poverty. And the high economic growth was a chieved under
a wide-ranging reforms programme highlighted by measures to attain trade surplus, attract foreign investment
and improve human capital.
IMPLEMENTING NAP
Pakistan has caught itself in a bind. The same day the Prime Minister, Imran Khan, called implementation of
the National Action Plan (NAP) his government‘s foremost priority and formed expert working groups to
ensure its coordinated implementation, the Chinese found themselves convincing the United States not to
bypass standard United Nations procedures to try and blacklist Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood
Azhar.
China says there is not enough consensus, but the unfortunate reality is that the Chinese calling for ―more
time for a comprehensive and thorough assessment‖ is only delaying the inevitable. The previous resolution
was backed by almost the entire UN Security Council, including the rotational members. The consensus is
almost unanimous.
The United States — with explicit support from France and Britain — will eventually bring the resolution to
the table, and will either force China to vote along, abstain or veto. That would not look good on China and
would essentially illustrate the weakness of the argument that the leader of a group on the UN terror list need
not be blacklisted as a terrorist.
Prime Minister Imran, meanwhile, is committed to implementing NAP. As he chaired the maiden session of
the National Internal Security Committee — a new structure for deliberations on security matters — he told
the participants that implementation of NAP ―is the foremost priority of the incumbent government as it is
reflective of the will of the nation and is a consensus document agreed upon by all political parties of the
country‖. He gave out an assurance that the government was committed to removing all impediments towards
implementation of the plan in letter and spirit.
The Prime Minister sounds serious about looking inward — something that would be highly prudent in view
of the ongoing FATF review and the UNSC vote on the JeM chief. The action, however, needs to come
sooner rather than later because the patience of China — however great a friend — will have its limits and it
is best not to test a friend that has always stood by us in the hardest of times that we have faced.

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THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE

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‘EHSAS’ AND CHINA’S TURNAROUND

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Published in The Express Tribune, March 30th, 2019.

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