DAWN Editorials - 7th April 2025
Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2025 11:25 am
Going dry
PAKISTAN is a water-stressed country and tens of millions remain water-insecure, forcing large communities to migrate from across the country to other regions for survival.
The UN report Global Water Security 2023 Assessment placed Pakistan in the “critically water-insecure category”, underscoring the fact that the country is facing an emergency that requires urgent action as per-capita water availability is rapidly declining due to climate change, population growth, mismanagement and wasteful use of the resource.
The lack of investment in water infrastructure means that more and more communities will find it harder to access fresh water over time. The water problem has, in fact, morphed into a very complex political economy issue. Yet, the policymakers try to see it through a technical lens, which stymies efforts to evolve a comprehensive strategy for conservation and optimal use.
Of late, the issue has come under renewed public focus because of the Punjab government’s plans to construct new canals to irrigate millions of barren acres in Cholistan. The project has spawned serious concerns in Sindh, where reduction in environmental flow below Kotri has resulted in massive sea intrusion and displacement of a significantly large population living along the delta.
Concurrently, a Lahore High Court judge has taken notice of wastage of fresh water in Punjab’s cities. He has ordered the urban planners to declare an emergency, launch a crackdown against housing societies, and evolve strategies for water recycling at the local level. In the meanwhile, a minister has offered full federal government support for timely completion of Wapda’s hydropower schemes to increase water storage and generate green electricity.
On the face of it, the schemes for new irrigation channels, water conservation and recycling in the urban areas and investments in water storages do not appear to have any linkage. But they are deeply interconnected issues and call for a well-knitted, integrated policy response, which involves all tiers of government — both vertically and horizontally, consumers, civil society organisations and other stakeholders. Indeed, the initial challenge would be to deal with the related political issues by firmly establishing the water rights of the provinces and public ownership of the resource.
With the frequency of extreme climate change events, like massive floods, droughts, erratic monsoons, etc increasing, Pakistan is running out of time to save its declining water resource to address water equity issues, protect livelihoods and ensure long-term food security. This is a task technocrats and bureaucrats cannot pull off on their own; senior national and provincial politicians would have to step up for long-term resolution of interprovincial frictions before a comprehensive policy response can be drawn up.
Until then, the authorities should refrain from undertaking any water scheme that is seen as an infringement on the rights of any federating unit to avoid more controversies.
Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2025
Afghan return
AS expected, the government of Pakistan is moving ahead with its plan to forcibly repatriate Afghan Citizenship Card holders still residing in the country. It may be recalled that it had earlier announced March 31 as the deadline for ‘voluntary repatriation’, after which stragglers would be deported. By making good on that warning, Islamabad has chosen to ignore repeated calls from humanitarian organisations — including the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, whose representative in Pakistan spoke on Eid to advocate a more compassionate approach and to give refugees more time to return. This decision is the state’s prerogative, and clearly, there’s little anyone else can do about it. As the Foreign Office keenly reminded critics of Islamabad’s Afghan policy around two weeks earlier, Pakistan is not bound by the Refugee Convention, and everything it has done for Afghan refugees has been done ‘out of the goodness of its heart’. Therefore, views like UNHCR Representative Philippa Candler’s, who observed that “Over time, Afghan refugees have become woven into the fabric of Pakistan’s society,” find no currency in Islamabad, where policy hawks have chosen to see Afghans as outsiders and an existential threat.
Now that it has chosen this path, the least the government can do is ensure that all Afghans who are subject to deportation orders are treated humanely and respectfully on their journey back. There is a very strong possibility they will not be, and given their vulnerable status, there are bound to be predators, both state officials and civilians, looking to exploit their situation. The authorities must go out of their way to ensure that deportees’ lives, property and dignity are protected and that they are given ample opportunity to set their affairs in order. Many Afghans came to this country empty-handed. During the time they spent here, some of them have managed to scrape a little of their lives back together. The Pakistani state’s decision to return them to where they fled must not come across as their punishment for being Afghan. If they are being returned ‘home’, as the Pakistani authorities like to frame their decision to deport them, then they must be given reason to feel so. The state can be as firm as it needs to be in order to implement its policy, but it must strive not to do anything cruel. That would help no one.
Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2025
Hurting women
MONTH after month, the figures of crimes against women in the country indicate that our society is close to collapsing under the weight of its own disgrace, yet public outrage is absent. For starters, the Sustainable Social Development Organisation’s 2024 report, stating that while globally 20pc women face abuse, a shocking 90pc of Pakistan’s females endure violence, should have shaken us to the core. But the dire situation of women, despite progressive legislation, has been overlooked by the state. According to a Lahore police performance report for the first quarter of the ongoing year, over a 100 women were subjected to assault in the Punjab capital; the force claims that it arrested 110 suspects involved in attacks on 103 women along with others implicated in 40 cases, including murders of 15 women, and rescued 988 female abductees. As numbers swell in Lahore, data says that out of the 4,641 reported rape cases in Punjab, a dismal 20 resulted in convictions.
It is time for men and women to confront this rampant misogyny. Each statistic is a tragedy with lessons: prejudice, victim-shaming, poor access to justice and the sexist whataboutery by politicians have consolidated misogyny and brutalised society. While robust investigation and policing are crucial, these measures are weakened by the lack of unequivocal commitment to the issue from lawmakers and political parties. Parliamentarians need to use their positions to censure atrocities against women irrespective of class and ideology; maligning a woman for political point-scoring is not politics but perversion. Messaging in educational institutions and in homes across the country to convey that respecting women is a must should also gain momentum. Empathy and unity ensure equality and freedom from rigid chauvinistic structures through stringent enforcement of laws, and higher conviction rates with solid evidence collection. The state has to guarantee a humane environment and a life without violence for its female citizens.
Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2025
PAKISTAN is a water-stressed country and tens of millions remain water-insecure, forcing large communities to migrate from across the country to other regions for survival.
The UN report Global Water Security 2023 Assessment placed Pakistan in the “critically water-insecure category”, underscoring the fact that the country is facing an emergency that requires urgent action as per-capita water availability is rapidly declining due to climate change, population growth, mismanagement and wasteful use of the resource.
The lack of investment in water infrastructure means that more and more communities will find it harder to access fresh water over time. The water problem has, in fact, morphed into a very complex political economy issue. Yet, the policymakers try to see it through a technical lens, which stymies efforts to evolve a comprehensive strategy for conservation and optimal use.
Of late, the issue has come under renewed public focus because of the Punjab government’s plans to construct new canals to irrigate millions of barren acres in Cholistan. The project has spawned serious concerns in Sindh, where reduction in environmental flow below Kotri has resulted in massive sea intrusion and displacement of a significantly large population living along the delta.
Concurrently, a Lahore High Court judge has taken notice of wastage of fresh water in Punjab’s cities. He has ordered the urban planners to declare an emergency, launch a crackdown against housing societies, and evolve strategies for water recycling at the local level. In the meanwhile, a minister has offered full federal government support for timely completion of Wapda’s hydropower schemes to increase water storage and generate green electricity.
On the face of it, the schemes for new irrigation channels, water conservation and recycling in the urban areas and investments in water storages do not appear to have any linkage. But they are deeply interconnected issues and call for a well-knitted, integrated policy response, which involves all tiers of government — both vertically and horizontally, consumers, civil society organisations and other stakeholders. Indeed, the initial challenge would be to deal with the related political issues by firmly establishing the water rights of the provinces and public ownership of the resource.
With the frequency of extreme climate change events, like massive floods, droughts, erratic monsoons, etc increasing, Pakistan is running out of time to save its declining water resource to address water equity issues, protect livelihoods and ensure long-term food security. This is a task technocrats and bureaucrats cannot pull off on their own; senior national and provincial politicians would have to step up for long-term resolution of interprovincial frictions before a comprehensive policy response can be drawn up.
Until then, the authorities should refrain from undertaking any water scheme that is seen as an infringement on the rights of any federating unit to avoid more controversies.
Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2025
Afghan return
AS expected, the government of Pakistan is moving ahead with its plan to forcibly repatriate Afghan Citizenship Card holders still residing in the country. It may be recalled that it had earlier announced March 31 as the deadline for ‘voluntary repatriation’, after which stragglers would be deported. By making good on that warning, Islamabad has chosen to ignore repeated calls from humanitarian organisations — including the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, whose representative in Pakistan spoke on Eid to advocate a more compassionate approach and to give refugees more time to return. This decision is the state’s prerogative, and clearly, there’s little anyone else can do about it. As the Foreign Office keenly reminded critics of Islamabad’s Afghan policy around two weeks earlier, Pakistan is not bound by the Refugee Convention, and everything it has done for Afghan refugees has been done ‘out of the goodness of its heart’. Therefore, views like UNHCR Representative Philippa Candler’s, who observed that “Over time, Afghan refugees have become woven into the fabric of Pakistan’s society,” find no currency in Islamabad, where policy hawks have chosen to see Afghans as outsiders and an existential threat.
Now that it has chosen this path, the least the government can do is ensure that all Afghans who are subject to deportation orders are treated humanely and respectfully on their journey back. There is a very strong possibility they will not be, and given their vulnerable status, there are bound to be predators, both state officials and civilians, looking to exploit their situation. The authorities must go out of their way to ensure that deportees’ lives, property and dignity are protected and that they are given ample opportunity to set their affairs in order. Many Afghans came to this country empty-handed. During the time they spent here, some of them have managed to scrape a little of their lives back together. The Pakistani state’s decision to return them to where they fled must not come across as their punishment for being Afghan. If they are being returned ‘home’, as the Pakistani authorities like to frame their decision to deport them, then they must be given reason to feel so. The state can be as firm as it needs to be in order to implement its policy, but it must strive not to do anything cruel. That would help no one.
Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2025
Hurting women
MONTH after month, the figures of crimes against women in the country indicate that our society is close to collapsing under the weight of its own disgrace, yet public outrage is absent. For starters, the Sustainable Social Development Organisation’s 2024 report, stating that while globally 20pc women face abuse, a shocking 90pc of Pakistan’s females endure violence, should have shaken us to the core. But the dire situation of women, despite progressive legislation, has been overlooked by the state. According to a Lahore police performance report for the first quarter of the ongoing year, over a 100 women were subjected to assault in the Punjab capital; the force claims that it arrested 110 suspects involved in attacks on 103 women along with others implicated in 40 cases, including murders of 15 women, and rescued 988 female abductees. As numbers swell in Lahore, data says that out of the 4,641 reported rape cases in Punjab, a dismal 20 resulted in convictions.
It is time for men and women to confront this rampant misogyny. Each statistic is a tragedy with lessons: prejudice, victim-shaming, poor access to justice and the sexist whataboutery by politicians have consolidated misogyny and brutalised society. While robust investigation and policing are crucial, these measures are weakened by the lack of unequivocal commitment to the issue from lawmakers and political parties. Parliamentarians need to use their positions to censure atrocities against women irrespective of class and ideology; maligning a woman for political point-scoring is not politics but perversion. Messaging in educational institutions and in homes across the country to convey that respecting women is a must should also gain momentum. Empathy and unity ensure equality and freedom from rigid chauvinistic structures through stringent enforcement of laws, and higher conviction rates with solid evidence collection. The state has to guarantee a humane environment and a life without violence for its female citizens.
Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2025