DAWN Editorials - 3rd May 2025

[adminforum]

Boosting productivity

THE country’s economic productivity — the efficiency with which it can convert inputs such as labour and capital into goods and services — is not in a good state. It has been dragging down growth and leading the country into recurring boom-bust cycles. All economic spheres have been affected: agriculture, manufacturing and public and private services. In general terms, we produce fewer goods and services — and that too of poor quality — for the domestic and international markets than we import or consume. That low productivity is preventing the economy from becoming part of the global supply chains is evident from consistently declining exports — as a percentage of GDP— and negligibly low foreign private capital flows. Hence, our growing reliance on foreign borrowings and IMF bailouts to keep afloat.

A recent State Bank report rightly highlights that productivity growth has been falling, even though the issue has featured in economic policy frameworks since at least the late 1990s. The reason for the lack of improvement in Pakistan’s economic competitiveness is obvious: policymakers’ reliance on short-term solutions for quick but short-lived results, instead of going for politically tough structural reforms to sustainably boost exports and FDI to increase growth. However, the bank says, these approaches have not delivered the desirable outcomes; nor have foreign aid, grants, loans, privatisation and other windfall or external endowments sustainably driven long-term growth prospects. The latest economic crisis shows that no attempt to durably revive growth will succeed without improving economic productivity. As the bank notes: “... access to external support has become challenging, warranting implementation of deep-rooted and long-pending structural reforms to address the underlying issues [of productivity and competitiveness]”. If the economy is to break free from low growth, boom-bust cycles and bailouts, it must execute real reforms, rather than work around them, to increase economic productivity and competitiveness to boost exports, attract FDI, and become part of the global value chains.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2025


The core issue

POST-Pahalgam events have yet again proved that unless the Kashmir issue is resolved peacefully and justly, the dispute over the contested territory will remain a constant source of friction between Pakistan and India, fuelling instability in South Asia. And while there has been a welcome effort by foreign powers to de-escalate matters after India’s belligerent rhetoric linking Pakistan to the atrocity without proof, the fact is that while foreign friends can help, it is only Islamabad, New Delhi and the Kashmiris who can permanently resolve this conundrum. In this regard, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Rizwan Sheikh told Newsweek, with reference to Donald Trump, that for a president whose “pronounced objective” is “resolving … disputes … there is [no] higher or flashier flash point” than Kashmir. While the Trump administration, as well as other foreign powers, may play their part in bringing down the temperature in order to prevent a conflagration in a nuclear-armed neighbourhood, expecting them to take the lead in resolving the Kashmir question may seem overly optimistic. Kashmir does not appear very high on their list of priorities, and they will not be interested in wading into the subcontinental bog for long-term conflict resolution between Pakistan and India — that is something both states will have to do on their own.

On its part, Pakistan has frequently reiterated the need to resolve the Kashmir question through dialogue. Yet, the BJP-led regime in New Delhi slammed the door on a peaceful solution with its ill-advised move in 2019 of scrapping the held region’s already limited autonomy. Since then, India has intensified its colonial tactics in IHK. Moreover, after the Pulwama tragedy, it has unleashed a wave of brutality against Kashmiris in the occupied region as well as in India. Whether it is rogue militants, local fighters or others, as long as India keeps denying Kashmir its fundamental rights, people will continue to opt for violence when all avenues for a peaceful resolution are closed. There exist blueprints to resolve the imbroglio, such as the Tariq Aziz-Satinder Lambah formula, while other approaches can also be tried to untangle the Kashmir knot. But for this, New Delhi must acknowledge that there is a problem that can only be resolved through its engagement with Pakistan, as well as Kashmiri involvement. Denying this reality will further perpetuate the atmosphere of hostility in South Asia.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2025


Truth under fire

WORLD Press Freedom Day has arrived under a dark cloud, with journalism in dire straits across the globe. According to Reporters Without Borders, 2025 marks the first time that journalism is rated “poor” in half the world’s countries — an unprecedented low in global press freedom. South Asia reflects this troubling trend vividly: Pakistan ranks 158th out of 180, India 151st, and Bangladesh 149th — all classified as having “very serious” constraints on media.

In Pakistan, the pressure is acute. Legal repression continues to intensify. The 2025 amendment to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act criminalises “false information” that causes fear or unrest — a vague provision widely seen as a tool to muzzle dissent. Journalists have protested this law nationwide, calling it a blow to constitutional protections of free speech. Meanwhile, physical threats remain ever-present. According to Freedom Network, Pakistan recorded at least five journalist killings between May 2024 and April this year. Internet shutdowns and social media blackouts — such as those imposed after political unrest in 2023 — continue to be deployed to stifle access to information.


Adding to these pressures is the severe economic decline facing independent media. With slowing revenues and rising costs, independent reporting has been under siege because of selective doling out of government advertisements, which are used to reward and punish media houses. RSF warns that without financial independence, editorial integrity cannot survive, and without that, the public loses its access to truthful reporting.

The global picture is no less grim. In the US, ranked 57th, press freedom is eroding under economic and political pressures. Journalists are contending with media layoffs, newsroom closures, and in some cases, police overreach — as seen in the Marion County Record raid. The second Trump administration has intensified hostility towards the press, slashing media funding and booting out critical outlets from the White House press pool. In Israel, ranked 112th, the Gaza conflict has had devastating consequences for journalists. Over 200 media workers have been killed in 18 months, and newsrooms destroyed, leading RSF to comment at one point: “At the rate journalists are being killed in Gaza, there will soon be no one left to keep you informed.”

As 2025 marks a global reckoning for press freedom, one truth stands out: no country is immune. Developing countries demonstrate how repression, violence and legal harassment can cripple journalism. But even so-called established democracies like the US are backsliding. The threats may differ, but the impulse to control narratives is universal. Defending press freedom now demands more than rhetoric; it requires legal protections, independent institutions and a public that refuses to accept silence. Journalism is democracy’s first line of defence, and it must endure.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2025