DAWN Editorials - 7th January 2025

[faheemustad]

Fragile peace


WHILE a peace deal to end the violence in Kurram tribal district was signed on New Year’s Day between the warring tribes, the fact that the local deputy commissioner was attacked in the district mere days after the signing shows how difficult the challenge of maintaining calm in this region will be. DC Javedullah Mehsud and members of his security detail came under attack in the Bagan area on Saturday. Reportedly, a protest was underway in the locality, and the attackers were amongst the demonstrators, the KP government spokesman said. Luckily, Mr Mehsud survived the attack and was rushed out of the area. However, the question arises: if the state cannot protect one of its senior functionaries, how will it keep Kurram’s ordinary citizens safe from violence and terrorism?

Fortunately, the peace deal has held despite the attack on the DC, while the KP government has promised to apprehend the perpetrators. Arrests have reportedly been made, while a meeting held to review the situation in Kohat, headed by the KP chief minister, decided that the provincial administration will take punitive measures against those who breach the peace. Notably, it has been decided that anyone carrying a weapon will be considered a militant. It is clear that there are elements in Kurram who do not want to see peace prevail in the district. The state, backed by the local tribes, must isolate and punish these malignant actors so that the fresh cycle of bloodshed in Kurram can be brought to a close.

The recently concluded peace deal offers a roadmap to lasting calm, but it can only work if the state has the will to enforce it, and the local tribes agree to abide by all its points. The primary criteria for calm in Kurram is a need to deweaponise the district, and neutralise all militant and sectarian groups active in the area. This includes keeping a close eye on the Afghan border, from where terrorists can and do infiltrate. Moreover, there must be freedom of movement across the district, and there cannot be any ‘no-go’ areas closed off to certain tribes or sects.

The blockade of upper Kurram has created a grave humanitarian situation, and the state must guarantee the district’s people have access to food, fuel, medicines etc at all times. Also, those who have lost loved ones, as well as those whose property has been destroyed in the recent clashes, must get justice. And the land and water disputes that have long fuelled tension in the area must be addressed judiciously. None of this will be easy in a tribal area which has seen decades of on-again, off-again skirmishes, exacerbated by sectarian differences and geopolitical factors. But the state cannot ignore the suffering of Kurram’s people.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2025

Captive power cut


THE IMF’s refusal to relax its demand for discontinuation of massively subsidised gas supplies to mostly inefficient captive power plants owned by wealthy textile producers, in order to eliminate cost distortions between power supply from the national grid and in-house generation, is understandable. Where power supply is a problem, captive power producers would be asked to pay additional Rs1,700-1,800 per mmBtu on top of prevailing LNG prices to strip them of the cost benefits of in-house generation. The condition, one of the key structural benchmarks of the ongoing $7bn funding programme, is aimed at compelling the government to wean the industry off energy subsidies, and encourage factory owners to shift to the national grid to stem falling power production — a major reason for soaring capacity payments to IPPs and unaffordable consumer tariffs. The electricity price subsidies for the industry have mostly been withdrawn under IMF oversight.

On the face of it, the condition appears harsh for exporters, as it would somewhat raise the cost of textile exports. But it isn’t. Generous energy and other subsidies doled out to textile exporters over the past several decades have made them inefficient, preventing product diversification and value-addition. Once they are weaned off subsidies, we may see some inefficient industries close down, with others investing in new technologies to stay competitive in the international markets. This action will also give small and medium textile exporters, who can’t afford captive power to slash their production costs, a fair chance to compete with the large producers in the market and grow bigger. It should also help divert gas to the much more efficient RLNG-based power generation plants, reducing the burden of growing capacity payments on the national exchequer and consumers. Indeed, the gas utilities have concerns about the drop in their sales amidst “250 surplus LNG cargoes” that Pakistan must procure under long-term contracts with suppliers. The concerns aren’t totally misplaced, but the growth in demand from the on-grid power sector is expected to significantly offset the gas companies’ projections of losses due to the decrease in demand from the captive power sector. No doubt, it’s a complex situation where stabilisation of one segment of the energy sector is affecting the other. Yet these challenges need to be confronted head-on, sooner rather than later.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2025


National embarrassment


PAKISTAN has utterly failed in protecting its children from polio, a preventable disease that has been eradicated nearly all over the world. With 68 cases reported in 2024 compared to Afghanistan’s 25, we find ourselves in the embarrassing position of being the worst performer among the only two countries where polio is still endemic.


Officials from Pakistan’s polio programme point to our superior reporting mechanisms and suggest that Afghanistan’s numbers may be underreported. However, this can in no way excuse our dismal performance. The fact remains that Pakistan, with its considerably stronger infrastructure and institutional capacity, should not even be in the same conversation as war-torn Afghanistan when it comes to public health metrics.

Polio in our parts has spread to 83 districts. Our environmental surveillance has detected the virus in 591 sewage samples across 106 sites. These are scary numbers. Security challenges in erstwhile Fata, Karachi, and Peshawar have indeed hampered vaccination efforts.

Yet, this narrative of perpetual hurdles is wearing thin. Pakistan’s polio eradication programme, active since 1994, has lately been hurt by mismanagement, vaccine refusals, and gaps in immunisation coverage. Despite nine vaccination campaigns and mapping efforts, 12pc of our infected children had zero doses of the oral polio vaccine. This failure cannot solely be attributed to external factors; it underscores systemic inefficiencies and lack of political will.

The formation of a new team by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, including focal person Ayesha Raza Farooq and national coordinator Anwarul Haq, suggests recognition of the crisis — but we have seen similar initiatives before with little lasting impact. The programme’s officials must adopt innovative strategies to overcome resistance, improve access, and ensure accountability at every level. The global eradication of polio is within reach, and Pakistan has no excuse to remain an outlier. It is time to end this national disgrace once and for all.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2025