Express Tribune Editorials 11th March 2025

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Well-deserved champions, but
All praise for India – for winning the ICC Champions Trophy for a record third time. Unbeaten in a competition of eight top rankers, the Men in Blue have stamped their supremacy in the cut-throat world of cricket. Little doubt that Team India – a bunch of talented players suiting the demands of modern-day cricket – can beat any opponent on any venue under any conditions! Thus the Dubai-only arrangement – widely deemed as an advantage for Indian team – has kind of taken the sheen off India's triumph, and has rather done a disservice to an unbeatable unit.

That the ICC deserves flak for caving in to BCCI pressure on a range of issues – depriving Pakistan of its sole hosting right, finalising the itinerary and scheduling all India matches on a single venue – goes without saying. It's rather a case of collusion between the ICC and the BCCI given that the former is led by India itself – well, precisely by Jay Shah, the son of Amit Shah, India's interior minister. India has in fact attempted to use – and with success – what should have been an unbiased, apolitical ICC platform to score political points over Pakistan. There is thus little denying that under India, the ICC integrity is at stake.

While the Champions Trophy story carries lessons for our politicians too, right now let's just focus on lessons for our cricket framework. The kind of hybrid nursery of cricket – featuring domestic and league cricket – that India has raised continues to produce world beaters without fail. On the contrary, PCB has over the years failed to decide on what should constitute the domestic cricket structure in the country – regional cricket or departmental cricket. It goes without saying that there is need to focus on the grass roots while involving both local and foreign experts for coaching and training. Luring sponsors into the game so as to improve the training and playing facilities is an immediate must too. Rebuilding should start forthwith.


Understandably cautious
Exercising the much-needed caution, the State Bank of Pakistan has kept its benchmark policy rate unchanged at 12%. This snapped the rate-cutting cycle that saw the interest rate go down by 1000 basis points in six intervals since June 2024. With the year-on-year inflation collapsing from 38% in May 2023 to just 1.5% in February 2025 amid an overall macroeconomic stability, marked by favourable figures of remittances and exports, there was a clear room for a further cut in the policy rate. But the central bank opted to wait.


The bank's decision to stick to the current rate is pretty understandable. True that inflation has come down, but it has much to do with the low base effect. A low inflation rate does not mean that prices are falling, but that they are rising at a slower pace. Also, the stability on the external sector has – besides rising remittances and exports – much to with debt rollovers and financing from friendly countries.

As per the SBP's assessment, core inflation was proving to be more persistent at an elevated level; thus, an uptick in the food and energy prices might lead to an increase in overall headline inflation, as measured under CPI. The bank's decision to keep the interest rate unchanged is thus based on "the risks posed by the inherent volatility in these prices [of food and energy] to the current declining trend in inflation".

The central bank also took into account "some pressures on the external account [that] emerged due to rising imports amid weak financial inflows." It is to be noted that from January 2025 onwards, the growth in imports has accelerated while the growth in exports has stalled as a result of which the current account slipped into deficit – of $420 million – in January 2025.

The SBP's caution is rightly rooted in a strategy to avoid a bust that follows a period of boom as a recurring feature of our economy.


Address to joint session
The President's ceremonial address to the joint session of the parliament this year too was a contentious affair. There were no serious takers from the treasury, and the opposition performed its sacrosanct duty of obstructing the speech as has been the convention for decades. President Asif Ali Zardari felt it incumbent upon himself to praise the coalition government, of which his PPP is also a part, on its one-year performance that mainly features pulling the economy out of the woods. But the points that the President underscored, such as working for promoting good governance and political stability, sounded utopian, as the current dispensation sits at the pinnacle of restlessness and polarisation.


President Zardari added a feather to his cap as he earned the privilege of addressing the bicameral, under Article 56 of the Constitution, for the eighth time. But there was something seriously lacking in his words and deeds, as he is yet to live up to the expectation of a politician-par-excellence who believes in reconciliation. With the opposition pushed to the wall and its leadership imprisoned, the parliament and the government have merely struggled to stay afloat under the stigma of a compromised verdict in the February 2024 general elections.

The ruling coalition's disregard for the rule of law as well as a plethora of legislations in contravention of the spirit of Constitution, such as the 26th amendment, made a mockery of egalitarian principles that the President spelt out before the august house. Zardari was on the mark as he told the legislators to work harder to strengthen the democratic system, restore public confidence in the rule of law, and to put Pakistan on the road to prosperity.

The discord within the ruling coalition was evident as the President expressed his disapproval of the federal government's plan to construct six canals on River Indus. That, to many, was tantamount to playing the Sindh Card. The roadmap proposed by the President would have made sense had it called for embracing the opposition by releasing political prisoners and taking them along for a dialogue in nation-rebuilding.