DAWN Editorials - 30th April 2025

[zarnishhayat]

Info wars

AS tension persists in South Asia post-Pahalgam, the Indian state is taking steps to ensure that its people are unable to hear Pakistani points of view.

For example, on Monday, New Delhi banned 16 Pakistani YouTube channels, including portals belonging to major networks such as Dawn News, ARY News, Geo News, etc. Accounts belonging to freelance journalists and cricket commentators have also been blocked. New Delhi has taken this senseless step because it believes that the channels were spreading “provocative and communally sensitive content”.


Considering the bellicose and inflammatory anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim content being produced by many mainstream Indian channels, this justification is laughable. Other steps taken by New Delhi include blocking certain Pakistani social media handles, as well as general boycotts of Pakistani culture and sports.

Sadly, it seems that the Indian state, along with parts of its media and civil society, are creating an atmosphere for war. That would explain why the world’s self-proclaimed ‘biggest democracy’ would feel threatened by Pakistani media outlets offering alternative viewpoints. While no doubt there are jingoistic voices on this side of the border too, the sheer size and reach of the Indian media means that war hysteria can very easily grip large segments of the Indian public.


A week after the Pahalgam tragedy, India has yet to provide conclusive proof linking Pakistan to the attack. Perhaps that is why it is keen to silence Pakistani voices, so that the Indian people are not exposed to alternative viewpoints and are prevented from questioning their government about what really happened in the scenic tourist spot in held Kashmir.

Moreover, Kashmiris in India are facing revenge attacks, with around 2,000 rounded up, while the Pahalgam episode is being used to fan hatred against India’s Muslim citizens. Instead of promoting such madness, the Indian state and media would do well to adopt a more rational approach, and stop spreading anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim hatred.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2025

Missing growth

PAKISTAN faces a paradox: its economy has been stabilising but growth remains elusive. The ‘feel good’ part of the economic recovery story forms the core of the official narrative that Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb repeated at a conference at Harvard University on Monday. “We have stabilised the fundamentals, restored confidence, and reignited growth,” he argued. Acknowledging these developments, he said, Fitch had upgraded Pakistan’s sovereign credit rating. However, the job of pinpointing what continues to ail the economy and prevents it from growing has been left to the State Bank, which, in its half-yearly report on the state of the economy published the same day, noted: “One of the prominent challenges long undermining the sustainability of growth is low and falling productivity that has adversely affected the country’s economic competitiveness.” The country’s weak productivity growth has contributed to frequent balance-of-payments crises, with the economy stuck in a recurring boom-bust cycle, the report adds.

That our productivity remains low is not surprising given that the entire structure of the economy is founded on consumption to achieve growth rather than on investment in the real and social sectors to boost productivity of the economy as well as individual workers. Decades of low investment in industrial infrastructure and agriculture means that we produce fewer things for the domestic and international markets and import more to sustain our flawed growth model. As a result, we are always looking for handouts, loans and bailouts to keep the economy afloat and pay our import bill. In the last couple of years, the authorities were forced to implement strict fiscal discipline, slash development spending and curb imports to stop the haemorrhaging of international reserves to secure multilateral funds and stave off an imminent default. This has undoubtedly helped the government somewhat stabilise the main economic fundamentals and reduce import-based consumption to improve reserves. But at the same time, it has killed growth. Economists agree that any attempt to grow faster than 3-4pc without restructuring the economy and boosting industrial and agricultural productivity would push us into a worse crisis. Yet we do not see substantive efforts being made in this respect. Our economy needs shock therapy; spirin will not work where surgery is required. Unless backed by substantive economic reforms, a feel good narrative has a very brief shelf life.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2025


Tribunal delays

IS justice to be delayed till such time that it becomes meaningless? At least that is the impression one gleans from the glacial pace at which the election tribunals set up after the 2024 general election have been discharging their duties. According to a report issued earlier this week by the Free and Fair Election Network, two-thirds of all disputes pertaining to last year’s election remain undecided to this day. Though the legal deadline for the settlement of these disputes lapsed long ago, there still does not seem to be much urgency on the part of the tribunals. Neither, it seems, is there any interest in their activities. Meanwhile, in the 14 months since the election, the credibility and legitimacy of not only the federal government but parliament itself have repeatedly been brought into question. As a result, both stand largely diminished in the eyes of the public, unable to fulfil the roles for which they were created.

Who must one blame for this sorry state of affairs? It is not just the tribunals that are at fault. Unfortunately, the institutions entrusted with upholding and safeguarding Pakistan’s democratic process and constitutional order failed to fulfil their duties when the hour came. The consequences are gradually becoming evident. The disconnect between state policy and the public has, for example, most glaringly manifested itself in widespread protests in Sindh against new canals proposed to be built on the Indus. Though the project was formally shelved on Monday, the people’s distrust of the state refuses to abate, and some have vowed to continue agitating till they see the state yield completely to their demands. Elsewhere, the fracture between the state and citizenry has exposed vulnerabilities against external aggression and threats. Thus, whether those in power admit it or not, the 2024 election and its attendant crises continue to cast a long shadow over the state.

It goes without saying that Pakistan would have been in a much stronger position to confront its many challenges if the tribunals had done their job without fear or favour. But the Election Commission, the federal government, and other branches of the state made sure, through various decisions, actions and legislative interventions, that the country had little choice but to accept a governance set-up formed on the basis of poll results that have been widely questioned. One wonders how long they believe this arrangement can endure, especially with the state facing new challenges with each passing day. The public does not seem to have forgotten and the national mood is hardly conciliatory. In the present circumstances, the tribunals could have played a constructive role by rebuilding public trust in the system. Unfortunately, that does not seem to be a priority for the state.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2025