Dawn Editorials 7th October 2025

Kech festival

THE usual news stories coming out of Balochistan centre around militancy and marginalisation. Yet every so often, it is heartening to see that even in such difficult circumstances, efforts are being made to promote learning and intellectual pursuits in the province, offering a beacon of hope — especially to its young people. One example of these positive activities is the recently concluded Kech Cultural Festival, held in Turbat. According to reports, over 22,000 people attended the event on its final day, while the Kech district administration, which organised the festival, says book sales this year exceeded last year’s numbers. That people in Balochistan are still passionate about the written word indicates that they reject violence, and desire peace and progress for their province. Along with book sales, the event also featured lectures by politicians, journalists and educators. Former Balochistan chief minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch noted during a session that literacy in the province remains low, and “poverty and ignorance are widespread”.

In Pakistan’s metropolitan centres literary events have become the mainstay of the cultural calendar. So it is very encouraging to see such events taking place in cities and towns located off the beaten path. Organisers of cultural festivals in Pakistan’s larger cities have also held events in Quetta, while Gwadar has witnessed similar activities. Although literary festivals alone will not change the grim security situation in the province, these events must be promoted to offer a positive alternative to the youth to express themselves freely, and engage in intellectual pursuits. If given peace, fair opportunities and the fundamental rights guaranteed to them under the Constitution, the people of Balochistan, especially the youth, can work to build their province, and bring it at par with other parts of the country. It is the state’s responsibility to eliminate violence, and give the people of Balochistan an atmosphere that is conducive to development and growth.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2025

Hate in India

IN the run-up to the electoral battle in Bihar, yet another calculated eruption of communal tensions and divisive rhetoric is being witnessed since early September in India. As Muslims celebrated Eid-i-Miladun Nabi, Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh became a flashpoint of religious fault lines over an illuminated ‘I love Muhammad [PBUH]’ signboard. The Hindu majority saw it as a ‘new tradition’, sparking hate-fuelled riots, police brutality, FIRs, arrests, internet blackouts and protests in UP, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Unexpectedly, the posters and graffiti proliferated on the roads and social media with support from secular sections. As a result, frictions escalated with nearly 2,000 protesters clashing with police outside a Bareilly mosque after Friday prayers; 81 people were detained. Under hardliner UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s watch, India’s largest province is a laboratory of hate. This time too, he targeted Muslims with “denting painting” of Bareilly’s ‘miscreants’.

After last year’s polls, such diversionary tactics seem to have lost some steam. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s political playbook has long relied on inflammatory agendas that divert attention from socioeconomic pressures and policy fiascos for electoral gains. While the BJP’s divisive politics did overshadow India’s Gandhian code and Nehruvian social justice, commentators say that the delusion of majoritarianism is on the wane due to economic strains, and failure in the war with Pakistan in May — an attempt to resurrect Mr Modi’s muscular Hindutva narrative. But the ultra-right regime refuses to mend its ways. As per the India Hate Lab report, incidents of hate speech in the country surged in 2024 — to suit the Hindu nationalist ideology — from 668 in 2023 to 1,165 in 2024, with 98.5pc directed at Muslims. Indeed, the last decade has witnessed a drastic shift in the Indian sociopolitical landscape: textbooks, culture, religious festivals, history and monuments have been restructured to align with the Hindutva supremacy pitch. The explosive mix of Hindu-led hegemony and fascism have tremendously strained the social fabric. As Eid, Diwali, Holi and Christmas continue to be communalised with attempts to rebrand Mughal edifices, India’s image of a diverse, multicultural land has eroded. At a time when brazen calls for carnage and historical erasure rise again, the opposition parties must fight for the oppressed, pluralism and social harmony more aggressively. Or bigotry will devour every community.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2025

Regulatory lapses

UNSUSPECTING electricity consumers have once again been forced to pay an additional amount — Rs215m — not because of an unavoidable rise in power generation costs thanks to a global fuel price spike or currency depreciation or capacity payments or a combination of these factors, but on account of regulatory failures.

With the elements mentioned above routinely blamed for expensive electricity in the country, the failures of power sector regulators Nepra and the CPPA-G to effectively enforce regulation to protect consumer rights and financial interests have always escaped public scrutiny.

The latest episode, in which an international coal supplier invoked force majeure to cancel a long-term contract with the Sahiwal power plant last year, compelling the latter to buy fuel at higher prices, is a case in point.

Instead of penalising the defaulter through forfeiture of its performance guarantees to recover replacement costs for wrongly invoking the force majeure clause, Nepra and the CPPA-G decided to pass on the cost differential to power consumers in the form of a higher tariff. Not just that, the CPPA-G, rather than blacklisting the supplier, permitted it to continue the supply of coal under its long-term contract, and participate in and win a spot tender at a higher rate in June for the same power plant.

That the two regulators failed to act against the defaulting supplier, and instead, effectively rewarded it for reneging on its contractual obligations, underscores just how weak and compromised the power sector’s regulatory framework has become. This failure is particularly indefensible given that industry data flatly contradicts the supplier’s justification for invoking force majeure.

The firm had cited congestion at South Africa’s Richards Bay Coal Terminal and the flare-up with India in May this year as reasons for suspending deliveries. Yet, the record shows that other suppliers continued to meet their contractual commitments through the same terminal, while coal shipments to Pakistan from other traders remained uninterrupted. The real motive, it appears, was economic self-interest, with the supplier belatedly discovering that the agreed price discount was too steep for its comfort and thus choosing to walk away.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time electricity consumers have been made to bear the cost of regulatory rot through their inflated bills. Nor, sadly, should it come as a surprise.

The latest breach has only reaffirmed a familiar pattern where regulatory dysfunction seems to have been institutionalised. In Pakistan’s power sector, watchdogs too often become enablers and are complicit, whether by design or by neglect, in protecting private interests and defaulters rather than consumers. When regulators allow private entities to breach contracts without consequence, accountability becomes optional, losses become collective, and market failure the norm.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2025