DAWN Editorials - 28th March 2025
Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2025 2:10 pm
Fear tactics
TO say that the media fraternity’s worst fears are now coming true would be to suggest that there was a chance that they would not. This was simply never true. From the beginning, it had been clear that the recent Peca amendments, pushed hastily through parliament late January despite vociferous protests and dutifully signed by the president shortly thereafter, were aimed at critical voices in the media.
What the fraternity has experienced over the past week in both Karachi and Islamabad is simply the law fulfilling its intended purpose. The regime now has legal cover to bully and harass working journalists for taking adversarial positions, and it has made it a point to turn it into a spectacle that can be cheered on and gloated over on social and mainstream media by its own supporters, as well as provide a demonstrative ‘lesson’ to those who still cling too tightly to their principles.
The highhandedness with which Farhan Mallick from Karachi and Waheed Murad from Islamabad have been treated over the past few days seems to be a message to the entire media community: fall in line, or else. It matters little what wrong they have committed or whether the charges against them will even stand in a court of law. One could safely presume that these likely do not matter to the authorities either. With the judiciary either unwilling or unable to uphold the principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’, the legal process that these two journalists will be put through will be punishment enough. In the hands of the state, their ordeal will become the price they pay for the critical views both have previously expressed in public.
Meanwhile, a journalist in Sahiwal faces Peca charges for defaming a lawyer after allegedly misreporting the circumstances of the latter’s removal from a position. In Lakki Marwat, a citizen has been booked under Peca for using “inappropriate language” against Bannu’s ulema for not announcing the moon sighting for Ramazan a day earlier. Model-turned-actor Nadia Hussain faces Peca charges for going public with the fact that she was approached for a bribe by a person claiming to be the director of FIA’s Karachi Zone. YouTuber Rajab Butt will be tried for Peca violations for giving his perfume a controversial name, while Mardan police are hunting for a local for using abusive language and spreading “negative propaganda” against the local press club.
This is the post-Peca amendments Pakistan that the state wants its citizenry to come to terms with. However, despite the intimidation and fear tactics, activists and the media fraternity must not give up. Ongoing efforts to challenge and repeal this black law must not falter. The courts hearing challenges to Peca amendments must be pressed into taking them up urgently.
Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2025
Hints of hope
PAKISTAN’S economic growth has slowed in the second quarter of the ongoing fiscal year from a year ago as the modest increase in the agriculture and services sectors was largely offset by contraction in big industry output. Overall, GDP accelerated by 1.73pc during the October-December period, marking a slight decline from the 1.77pc recorded in the same period last year. The modest growth in the size of the economy is, however, slightly faster than in the first quarter of the current fiscal. This is in spite of the upward revision in the provisional estimates for the first quarter from 0.92pc to 1.34pc, according to the National Accounts Committee. Deceleration in the growth rate does not come as a surprise in the midst of falling public and private investments and shrinking domestic consumption on the back of higher borrowing costs, dollar liquidity crunch driving unannounced import curbs, and the shrinking purchasing power of middle-class consumers. Nevertheless, the slower GDP growth is in line with the State Bank’s projection of a 2.5-3.5pc expansion in the size of the economy during FY25. The Asian Development Bank has projected a 3pc increase in Pakistan’s GDP and the IMF 3.2pc.
Indeed, the economy has come a long way from the brink of default in the past 18 months as pointed out by the IMF mission chief in his statement on the finalisation of the staff-level agreement with Pakistan over the first review of its current Extended Fund Facility of $7bn. Macro indicators are in far better shape today and the markets that were gripped by volatility until a year and a half ago have stabilised. Inflation has declined to its lowest level since 2015, financial conditions have improved, sovereign spreads have narrowed significantly, and external balances are stronger, the IMF notes. Yet growth recovery remains weak and is unlikely to pick up pace anytime soon due to structural issues — entrenched by decades of wrong policy choices — that the economy confronts. Any push for faster growth is bound to lead us back into another bigger crisis. The emerging geopolitical challenges marked by the tightening of global financial conditions and rising protectionism are other reasons the country should stay the course of stabilisation by implementing policy reforms and avoiding the temptation to pursue rapid growth. Once the economy finds a solid footing for itself, rapid growth will follow automatically.
Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2025
Capacity issues
TALK about disjointed development. Pakistan is now producing high-speed train coaches for its low-speed tracks. According to a recent news report, the Islamabad Carriage Factory, which locally produces locomotives and coaches, is set to deliver its first batch of advanced, ‘new generation’ passenger coaches in about three months. These coaches, which can go as fast as 200km per hour and are equipped with some state-of-the-art features, have been developed with the help of our Chinese brethren, who themselves boast some of the most advanced railway technology in the world. But, impressive as the achievement is, it will do little to make travel more convenient for Pakistan Railways passengers because our rail network simply does not support trains going as fast as that.
For a rough idea of how much of a disappointment this is, take the current travel times between two of Pakistan’s busiest railway stations, Karachi Cantonment and Lahore Junction. A train trip from one to the other, which spans roughly 1,200km, usually takes anywhere from 18 to 24 hours, depending on the service that day. If Pakistan Railways also had tracks and locomotives that were compatible with the new coaches, that travel time could theoretically be cut at least in half, making it so much more convenient for routine travellers and also enhancing the appeal of train trips as a relatively safer, convenient and far more affordable option for all manner of travellers. Unfortunately, the development of railway capacity to facilitate ordinary travellers does not seem to have been a priority for Pakistan. One cannot help but envy China in this regard. The Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway covers more distance than the Karachi to Lahore track but takes as little as 4.5 hours to traverse. If only our politicians could get over their obsession with shiny motorway projects that carry their nameplates, perhaps ordinary travellers too could hope for such cheap, convenient and quick train journeys.
Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2025
TO say that the media fraternity’s worst fears are now coming true would be to suggest that there was a chance that they would not. This was simply never true. From the beginning, it had been clear that the recent Peca amendments, pushed hastily through parliament late January despite vociferous protests and dutifully signed by the president shortly thereafter, were aimed at critical voices in the media.
What the fraternity has experienced over the past week in both Karachi and Islamabad is simply the law fulfilling its intended purpose. The regime now has legal cover to bully and harass working journalists for taking adversarial positions, and it has made it a point to turn it into a spectacle that can be cheered on and gloated over on social and mainstream media by its own supporters, as well as provide a demonstrative ‘lesson’ to those who still cling too tightly to their principles.
The highhandedness with which Farhan Mallick from Karachi and Waheed Murad from Islamabad have been treated over the past few days seems to be a message to the entire media community: fall in line, or else. It matters little what wrong they have committed or whether the charges against them will even stand in a court of law. One could safely presume that these likely do not matter to the authorities either. With the judiciary either unwilling or unable to uphold the principle of ‘innocent until proven guilty’, the legal process that these two journalists will be put through will be punishment enough. In the hands of the state, their ordeal will become the price they pay for the critical views both have previously expressed in public.
Meanwhile, a journalist in Sahiwal faces Peca charges for defaming a lawyer after allegedly misreporting the circumstances of the latter’s removal from a position. In Lakki Marwat, a citizen has been booked under Peca for using “inappropriate language” against Bannu’s ulema for not announcing the moon sighting for Ramazan a day earlier. Model-turned-actor Nadia Hussain faces Peca charges for going public with the fact that she was approached for a bribe by a person claiming to be the director of FIA’s Karachi Zone. YouTuber Rajab Butt will be tried for Peca violations for giving his perfume a controversial name, while Mardan police are hunting for a local for using abusive language and spreading “negative propaganda” against the local press club.
This is the post-Peca amendments Pakistan that the state wants its citizenry to come to terms with. However, despite the intimidation and fear tactics, activists and the media fraternity must not give up. Ongoing efforts to challenge and repeal this black law must not falter. The courts hearing challenges to Peca amendments must be pressed into taking them up urgently.
Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2025
Hints of hope
PAKISTAN’S economic growth has slowed in the second quarter of the ongoing fiscal year from a year ago as the modest increase in the agriculture and services sectors was largely offset by contraction in big industry output. Overall, GDP accelerated by 1.73pc during the October-December period, marking a slight decline from the 1.77pc recorded in the same period last year. The modest growth in the size of the economy is, however, slightly faster than in the first quarter of the current fiscal. This is in spite of the upward revision in the provisional estimates for the first quarter from 0.92pc to 1.34pc, according to the National Accounts Committee. Deceleration in the growth rate does not come as a surprise in the midst of falling public and private investments and shrinking domestic consumption on the back of higher borrowing costs, dollar liquidity crunch driving unannounced import curbs, and the shrinking purchasing power of middle-class consumers. Nevertheless, the slower GDP growth is in line with the State Bank’s projection of a 2.5-3.5pc expansion in the size of the economy during FY25. The Asian Development Bank has projected a 3pc increase in Pakistan’s GDP and the IMF 3.2pc.
Indeed, the economy has come a long way from the brink of default in the past 18 months as pointed out by the IMF mission chief in his statement on the finalisation of the staff-level agreement with Pakistan over the first review of its current Extended Fund Facility of $7bn. Macro indicators are in far better shape today and the markets that were gripped by volatility until a year and a half ago have stabilised. Inflation has declined to its lowest level since 2015, financial conditions have improved, sovereign spreads have narrowed significantly, and external balances are stronger, the IMF notes. Yet growth recovery remains weak and is unlikely to pick up pace anytime soon due to structural issues — entrenched by decades of wrong policy choices — that the economy confronts. Any push for faster growth is bound to lead us back into another bigger crisis. The emerging geopolitical challenges marked by the tightening of global financial conditions and rising protectionism are other reasons the country should stay the course of stabilisation by implementing policy reforms and avoiding the temptation to pursue rapid growth. Once the economy finds a solid footing for itself, rapid growth will follow automatically.
Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2025
Capacity issues
TALK about disjointed development. Pakistan is now producing high-speed train coaches for its low-speed tracks. According to a recent news report, the Islamabad Carriage Factory, which locally produces locomotives and coaches, is set to deliver its first batch of advanced, ‘new generation’ passenger coaches in about three months. These coaches, which can go as fast as 200km per hour and are equipped with some state-of-the-art features, have been developed with the help of our Chinese brethren, who themselves boast some of the most advanced railway technology in the world. But, impressive as the achievement is, it will do little to make travel more convenient for Pakistan Railways passengers because our rail network simply does not support trains going as fast as that.
For a rough idea of how much of a disappointment this is, take the current travel times between two of Pakistan’s busiest railway stations, Karachi Cantonment and Lahore Junction. A train trip from one to the other, which spans roughly 1,200km, usually takes anywhere from 18 to 24 hours, depending on the service that day. If Pakistan Railways also had tracks and locomotives that were compatible with the new coaches, that travel time could theoretically be cut at least in half, making it so much more convenient for routine travellers and also enhancing the appeal of train trips as a relatively safer, convenient and far more affordable option for all manner of travellers. Unfortunately, the development of railway capacity to facilitate ordinary travellers does not seem to have been a priority for Pakistan. One cannot help but envy China in this regard. The Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway covers more distance than the Karachi to Lahore track but takes as little as 4.5 hours to traverse. If only our politicians could get over their obsession with shiny motorway projects that carry their nameplates, perhaps ordinary travellers too could hope for such cheap, convenient and quick train journeys.
Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2025