DAWN Editorials - 18th March 2025
Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2025 2:06 pm
A new direction
WITH the security situation in Balochistan and KP rapidly deteriorating, Pakistan’s civil and military leadership must come up with a new plan to effectively deal with all aspects of the respective insurgencies.
This will be the main focus of today’s meeting of the parliamentary panel on national security. The in-camera huddle will feature the prime minister and army chief, all four chief ministers as well as cabinet members and representatives of political parties.
The threat to national integrity is significant, and this is no time for partisan politics; the state and its institutions must listen to all shades of opinion in order to formulate a holistic counterterrorism and peacebuilding policy.
While the TTP-led terrorist campaign mostly affecting KP has been steadily gaining momentum since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul, the separatist insurgency piloted by the banned BLA now appears to have large parts of Balochistan firmly in its grip.
This shocking reality was brought home by last week’s bloody hijacking of the Jaffar Express, and the subsequent targeting of security men in Noshki. There is a long list of other major and minor terrorist incidents in the province. When the lawmakers, generals and politicians meet in Islamabad behind closed doors today, it is these grave threats to national security that will dominate the agenda.
The easiest course to pursue would be the kinetic response. But while this may temporarily disable violent actors, it will not address the underlying factors that have provided ideological fuel to these insurgencies: poverty, underdevelopment, lack of justice and the resultant alienation from the state. These factors, as highlighted by the non-kinetic dimensions of the National Action Plan, need equal attention.
Of course, securing territory and eliminating threats to peace are prerequisites for any plan to succeed. But unless the civilian arm of the state complements the kinetic dimension of CT operations with political efforts and meaningful development work, the gains in the field will be unsustainable.
Moreover, it is essential that all political forces are included in national CT and peacebuilding efforts. Accusing some parties of being ‘anti-national’ and supporting the militants’ narrative is counterproductive. Helpful critique should be heard with open minds. The present course of action has failed to bring peace to Balochistan and KP, hence fresh approaches are required. Having said that, opposition parties should also refrain from scoring political points, and, instead, bring constructive criticism to the discussion.
The blueprint to contain violence and forge a more peaceful path exists in the shape of NAP. Now, all stakeholders must display the vision and the will to implement the document’s points, combining force where required with political reconciliation in order to bring peace to Balochistan, KP and the rest of Pakistan.
Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2025
BTK settlement
WHEREVER the money goes, controversy follows. The PMLN-led federal government, which recently announced that it will be using ‘190m pounds’, originally repatriated by the UK’s National Crime Agency under a settlement agreement with property tycoon Malik Riaz, to build a university in Islamabad, is being criticised for not using that money to support existing public sector universities that have been suffering an acute funding crisis. The sum, which totals some 35bn in Pakistani rupees, could have helped bridge the Rs60bn shortfall faced by the Higher Education Commission this year, informed stakeholders say. However, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif intends to use that money to set up the Daanish University of Emerging Sciences, which appears to be an extension of the Daanish Schools project he initiated as chief minister of Punjab, and which is closely associated with his name. The irony of funds tied to PTI leader Imran Khan’s Al Qadir University now being used for a different ‘political’ university project cannot be missed. It is undoubtedly hypocritical that what this government had spent months arguing were ‘public funds’ are now being used to build its own political capital.
It is worth recalling that this money, a little more than half of the total deposited in the Supreme Court’s accounts on behalf of Bahria Town for its BTK housing project, had been allocated to the federal government by the apex court in November 2023. The remaining Rs30bn was handed over to the Sindh government despite severe apprehensions about the provincial government and its departments’ central role in facilitating Bahria Town and abetting its unlawful activities, as established in the original judgement in the BTK case. Meanwhile, six years after its settlement with the Supreme Court, Bahria Town remains in default of the agreement. There is no clarity about how much it still owes the Supreme Court and whether it can or will pay the dues. The apex court and the government, too, have not been very clear about how the BTK judgement is to be enforced. The settlement was to expire in August 2026, by which time the developer was supposed to have paid Rs460bn in instalments, along with 4pc mark-up on all late payments. It had paid only a small fraction as of late 2023, having unilaterally suspended further payments after the £190m were credited, claiming it was being penalised ‘unfairly’.
Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2025
Sugar crisis
GREED knows no bounds. But the avarice of those involved in the sugar business — from manufacturers to retailers — in Pakistan is legendary. The powerful sugar cartel is known for using its political clout to extort concessions from every government to make large amounts of money, in times of both shortages and surpluses. Nothing has ever stopped them from profiteering at the expense of unprotected consumers. This is in spite of evidence of the existence of a large grey market and significant tax theft by mill owners and traders. An FIA inquiry against mill owners and wholesale distributors, following the eruption of a sudden sugar crisis during the tenure of Imran Khan, recommended several actions to be implemented across the supply chain to regulate the sugar trade and prevent the recurrence of such events. However, the suggested measures never took off.
Retail sugar prices have again experienced an abnormal, rapid surge from Rs130 per kilogram to Rs180 since January. This is despite the ongoing crushing season and the industry’s commitment to the government not to let retail rates go up beyond Rs140-145 in return for permission to export their excess stocks last year. Instead of holding the manufacturers to their promise, or addressing the underlying structural issues driving the periodic price volatility, the government responded by announcing plans to import raw sugar. The present price hike is not resulting from any shortages in the market. Importing the sweetener and subsidising it at Ramazan bazaars are only temporary and expensive solutions. We cannot address the long-standing issue of sharp periodic price spikes and fluctuations without undertaking comprehensive policy reforms and effective market regulation. It is time the government completely deregulated the sugar trade, and stopped market intervention by fixing cane crop and sugar prices as well as controlling the commodity’s import and export. Let the market determine the retail sugar prices, and the margins for manufacturers and traders.
Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2025
WITH the security situation in Balochistan and KP rapidly deteriorating, Pakistan’s civil and military leadership must come up with a new plan to effectively deal with all aspects of the respective insurgencies.
This will be the main focus of today’s meeting of the parliamentary panel on national security. The in-camera huddle will feature the prime minister and army chief, all four chief ministers as well as cabinet members and representatives of political parties.
The threat to national integrity is significant, and this is no time for partisan politics; the state and its institutions must listen to all shades of opinion in order to formulate a holistic counterterrorism and peacebuilding policy.
While the TTP-led terrorist campaign mostly affecting KP has been steadily gaining momentum since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul, the separatist insurgency piloted by the banned BLA now appears to have large parts of Balochistan firmly in its grip.
This shocking reality was brought home by last week’s bloody hijacking of the Jaffar Express, and the subsequent targeting of security men in Noshki. There is a long list of other major and minor terrorist incidents in the province. When the lawmakers, generals and politicians meet in Islamabad behind closed doors today, it is these grave threats to national security that will dominate the agenda.
The easiest course to pursue would be the kinetic response. But while this may temporarily disable violent actors, it will not address the underlying factors that have provided ideological fuel to these insurgencies: poverty, underdevelopment, lack of justice and the resultant alienation from the state. These factors, as highlighted by the non-kinetic dimensions of the National Action Plan, need equal attention.
Of course, securing territory and eliminating threats to peace are prerequisites for any plan to succeed. But unless the civilian arm of the state complements the kinetic dimension of CT operations with political efforts and meaningful development work, the gains in the field will be unsustainable.
Moreover, it is essential that all political forces are included in national CT and peacebuilding efforts. Accusing some parties of being ‘anti-national’ and supporting the militants’ narrative is counterproductive. Helpful critique should be heard with open minds. The present course of action has failed to bring peace to Balochistan and KP, hence fresh approaches are required. Having said that, opposition parties should also refrain from scoring political points, and, instead, bring constructive criticism to the discussion.
The blueprint to contain violence and forge a more peaceful path exists in the shape of NAP. Now, all stakeholders must display the vision and the will to implement the document’s points, combining force where required with political reconciliation in order to bring peace to Balochistan, KP and the rest of Pakistan.
Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2025
BTK settlement
WHEREVER the money goes, controversy follows. The PMLN-led federal government, which recently announced that it will be using ‘190m pounds’, originally repatriated by the UK’s National Crime Agency under a settlement agreement with property tycoon Malik Riaz, to build a university in Islamabad, is being criticised for not using that money to support existing public sector universities that have been suffering an acute funding crisis. The sum, which totals some 35bn in Pakistani rupees, could have helped bridge the Rs60bn shortfall faced by the Higher Education Commission this year, informed stakeholders say. However, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif intends to use that money to set up the Daanish University of Emerging Sciences, which appears to be an extension of the Daanish Schools project he initiated as chief minister of Punjab, and which is closely associated with his name. The irony of funds tied to PTI leader Imran Khan’s Al Qadir University now being used for a different ‘political’ university project cannot be missed. It is undoubtedly hypocritical that what this government had spent months arguing were ‘public funds’ are now being used to build its own political capital.
It is worth recalling that this money, a little more than half of the total deposited in the Supreme Court’s accounts on behalf of Bahria Town for its BTK housing project, had been allocated to the federal government by the apex court in November 2023. The remaining Rs30bn was handed over to the Sindh government despite severe apprehensions about the provincial government and its departments’ central role in facilitating Bahria Town and abetting its unlawful activities, as established in the original judgement in the BTK case. Meanwhile, six years after its settlement with the Supreme Court, Bahria Town remains in default of the agreement. There is no clarity about how much it still owes the Supreme Court and whether it can or will pay the dues. The apex court and the government, too, have not been very clear about how the BTK judgement is to be enforced. The settlement was to expire in August 2026, by which time the developer was supposed to have paid Rs460bn in instalments, along with 4pc mark-up on all late payments. It had paid only a small fraction as of late 2023, having unilaterally suspended further payments after the £190m were credited, claiming it was being penalised ‘unfairly’.
Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2025
Sugar crisis
GREED knows no bounds. But the avarice of those involved in the sugar business — from manufacturers to retailers — in Pakistan is legendary. The powerful sugar cartel is known for using its political clout to extort concessions from every government to make large amounts of money, in times of both shortages and surpluses. Nothing has ever stopped them from profiteering at the expense of unprotected consumers. This is in spite of evidence of the existence of a large grey market and significant tax theft by mill owners and traders. An FIA inquiry against mill owners and wholesale distributors, following the eruption of a sudden sugar crisis during the tenure of Imran Khan, recommended several actions to be implemented across the supply chain to regulate the sugar trade and prevent the recurrence of such events. However, the suggested measures never took off.
Retail sugar prices have again experienced an abnormal, rapid surge from Rs130 per kilogram to Rs180 since January. This is despite the ongoing crushing season and the industry’s commitment to the government not to let retail rates go up beyond Rs140-145 in return for permission to export their excess stocks last year. Instead of holding the manufacturers to their promise, or addressing the underlying structural issues driving the periodic price volatility, the government responded by announcing plans to import raw sugar. The present price hike is not resulting from any shortages in the market. Importing the sweetener and subsidising it at Ramazan bazaars are only temporary and expensive solutions. We cannot address the long-standing issue of sharp periodic price spikes and fluctuations without undertaking comprehensive policy reforms and effective market regulation. It is time the government completely deregulated the sugar trade, and stopped market intervention by fixing cane crop and sugar prices as well as controlling the commodity’s import and export. Let the market determine the retail sugar prices, and the margins for manufacturers and traders.
Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2025