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DAWN EDITORIAL: 17 February 2025
THE latest report of the UN Security Council’s sanctions monitoring team paints a grim picture of the banned TTP’s growing operational capacity.
It says that “the status and strength of TTP in Afghanistan had not changed”, but its attacks on Pakistan have “significantly increased, with over 600 attacks during the reporting period [July-December], including from Afghan territory”. This underscores Pakistan’s long-standing concern at Afghan soil being used for cross-border violence.
Despite the Afghan Taliban’s reassurancethat their territory would not be used for terrorism against any country, the report confirms that they “continued to provide TTP with logistical and operational space and financial support”, including funds for the TTP leadership and the creation of new training centres in Kunar, Nangarhar, Khost, and Paktika provinces. Such support undermines Pakistan’s security and further strains its ties with Kabul.
Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN Munir Akram had also warned the UNSC that the TTP was now “an umbrella organisation” for various militant actors, increasing the risk of regional instability. The report corroborates this, noting that the TTP’s coordination with Al Qaeda and other extremist outfits “might transform [TTP] into an extra-regional threat”.
Islamabad has historically pursued a dual-track approach to dealing with the TTP menace — diplomatic engagement with Kabul alongside military action against the terrorists.
However, with the Taliban’s continued reluctance to take concrete action against the TTP, Pakistan has also resorted to cross-border strikes against militant hideouts in Afghanistan. While such operations may provide short-term relief, unilateral military actions are not a sustainable solution. They risk worsening relations with Afghanistan and complicating broader stability.
Pakistan must intensify its diplomatic engagement with Kabul, stressing that its tolerance of the TTP is a serious breach of regional peace and bilateral trust. The Afghan Taliban leadership, in turn, must recognise that harbouring groups like the TTP will only increase global scrutiny and isolate them further.
Unfortunately, instead of accepting the realities detailed in the report, the Afghan Taliban have rejected the findings, dismissing them as propaganda. This can only be perceived as a sheer unwillingness to act, an approach that has implications not only for the Pak-Afghan relationship but also regional security. The international community must continue to ramp up the pressure.
Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2025
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DAWN EDITORIAL: 17 February 2025
PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s recent appeal for climate finance at the World Governments Summit in the UAE underscores a critical challenge Pakistan faces: bridging the enormous gap between climate funding needs and available resources.
The unfortunate reality is that Pakistan requires $40-50bn annually for climate adaptation and mitigation, yet receives merely $1.5-2bn from international sources. This disparity demands urgent attention, particularly given Pakistan’s position as one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations despite minimal contribution to global emissions.
The floods of 2022 serve as a haunting reminder of our vulnerability, having submerged a third of the country, affected 33m people, and caused $30bn in economic losses. With Pakistan projected to lose over 6pc of its GDP annually to climate-related damages, the need for substantial climate finance cannot be overstated.
That Pakistan’s energy transition alone requires $100bn in investment highlights the extent of the challenge. However, the international climate finance architecture remains flawed.
Our limited access to the Green Climate Fund, securing only $250m compared to India’s $782m and Bangladesh’s $441m, reflects systemic barriers that climate-vulnerable nations face. Complex approval processes, stringent credit ratings, and high borrowing costs continue to direct climate finance towards lower-risk projects in developed economies rather than where it is most urgently needed.
The way forward requires action on both international and domestic fronts. Globally, multilateral institutions must reform their frameworks to ensure equitable access to climate finance for vulnerable nations. The Loss and Damage Fund, while promising, needs streamlined mechanisms for accessibility. Global bodies must recognise that climate finance is not charity but a matter of climate justice.
At home, Pakistan must boost its institutional capacity to develop bankable climate projects. Our commitment to producing 60pc clean energy by 2030 and converting 30pc of vehicles to electric needs to be backed by action plans that can attract both public and private investment. Creating an enabling regulatory environment through targeted incentives, mandatory climate risk disclosures, and public-private partnerships is essential.
Pakistan must also prioritise financial innovation, exploring blended finance models, green bonds, and parametric insurance schemes. Developing specialised expertise in climate finance and technology, while fostering coordination between federal and provincial levels, will be crucial for effective fund utilisation.
The international community must match its pledges with action, while Pakistan needs to demonstrate its readiness to manage climate finance effectively.
Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2025
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Maleeha Lodhi // DAWN: 17 February 2025
{Comment: If you missed watching the entire game of army, political parties and judiciary; here is a summary}
WHAT has been the record of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government as it completes one year in power? While the ruling coalition claims many achievements, this is not reflected in how the public rates its performance.
An Ipsos opinion survey in December found almost 80 per cent of people believed the country was going in the wrong direction. Sharif’s governance has in fact been underwhelming with several of the country’s challenges yet to be tackled and political stability still elusive.
A disputed general election cast a shadow over the Sharif government from the outset of its tenure and denuded it of legitimacy. The election produced a hung parliament and fragmented mandate. Imran Khan’s PTI won a plurality of seats to emerge as the single largest bloc in parliament. But it was PML-N and allies backed by the establishment that formed the government, supported by the PPP.
PML-N’s lack of a majority and consequent lack of self-confidence increased its dependence on the establishment, which it also needed to counter Khan and PTI. Indeed, the glue that held coalition members and the establishment together was their shared hostility to Khan.
This paved the way for the military to acquire the most extensive role yet in a civilian set-up. The post-2018 hybrid governing arrangement transformed into one in which the military became directly involved in many more spheres of governance including the economy.
This was unprecedented even by the standards of Pakistan’s history of military influence over civilian governments. Sharif seemed happy to cede more space to the military leadership. This contributed to a decisive shift in the civil-military balance to the latter’s advantage.
Countering PTI proved far from easy for the government. Frequent street protests by PTI and disruptions of parliamentary proceedings kept the government unsettled and preoccupied with confrontations with the opposition. May 9 and Nov 26 saw violent street clashes with the two sides adopting sharply conflicting narratives on what happened. Political battles were also fought on the floor of the House and in the courts.
If the government was unable to dent Khan’s popularity by instituting legal cases against him, PTI was unable to pressure the ruling coalition to free Khan, jailed since August 2023, and meet its other demands. Unable to ‘fix’ the Khan problem, the government increasingly resorted to repressive measures and crackdowns on the opposition. This pushed Pakistan in a more authoritarian direction.
Increasing autocratisation of the country under Sharif was reflected in a slew of government actions. The most consequential was the 26th Constitutional Amendment. This was rushed through parliament and adopted without debate. It struck a blow to judicial independence by making the judiciary subservient to the executive. The amendment gave the government the power to choose the chief justice from a panel of the Supreme Court’s three senior most judges.
A parliamentary committee reflecting the government’s majority was empowered to nominate the CJ. It selected Yahya Afridi, the third judge on the seniority list, as chief justice — superseding Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, regarded as too independent. The government also acquired the power to transfer high court judges. When it did that, judges from the Islamabad High Court objected, but in vain. The government’s manipulation of the higher judiciary sowed unprecedented division among judges and triggered protests by lawyers and the opposition.
The Sharif government treated parliament as a rubber stamp and also sought to stifle the freedom of expression. It went much further than its civilian predecessors in trying to control the electronic and social media. Aided by the establishment, it used informal means to ‘regulate’ the media, routinely issuing instructions to TV channels about its coverage.
It changed the cybercrime law to criminalise online speech by amending the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016. This sparked angry protests from journalists but the government refused to back off. The Peca changes aimed at tightening government control over the digital space which already involved a ban on X and other internet restrictions and censorship.
The government’s economic management has meant some progress in establishing short-term macroeconomic stability. It secured a $7 billion IMF loan package by meeting several conditionalities to impose fiscal discipline, undertake tax and austerity measures and limit subsidies. Its economic measures helped to stabilise the economy and control inflation but without improvements in the tax system and any structural changes in reining in expenditure.
Moreover, stabilisation has yet to involve building sufficient capacity to repay loans. This raises doubts about its sustainability given Pakistan’s large external financing needs in coming years, low foreign exchange reserves and heavy debt burden. Exports have fallen to 8pc of GDP from 16pc a decade ago. Constant requests for loan rollovers to lenders, especially China, indicate the persisting lack of repaying capacity — requiring yet more borrowing.
The government hasn’t been able to present an actionable home-grown economic plan that identifies past mistakes and makes a course correction to chart a sustainable path to growth. The much-touted Uraan programme doesn’t offer a strategy that spells out how goals — such as $100bn in exports in eight years — are to be achieved. Surprisingly, it lacks emphasis on reforms.
A transition from stabilisation to growth and investment also requires a stable political environment, which remains elusive. Despite SIFC efforts over the past year, investment has remained stagnant. The investment-to-GDP ratio at 13pc has actually fallen from previous years.
The security situation deteriorated markedly under Sharif. The surge in terrorist and militant violence across KP and Balochistan made the past year the deadliest in a decade in casualties suffered by law-enforcement personnel. The government kept convening meetings on the security challenge but was unable to show improvement on the ground.
Space does not permit an evaluation of Sharif’s foreign policy. It is sufficient to note that it has lacked any vision or strategic direction and been bereft of the clarity and coherence needed to meet challenges and respond to dramatic shifts in global geopolitics. Undertaking constant foreign tours, especially to Gulf countries, does little to obscure this.
Sharif’s foreign policy endeavours have mostly focused on seeking loans and debt rollovers from close allies, reducing Pakistan to a supplicant in its key bilateral relationships.
The writer is a former ambassador to the US, UK and UN.
Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2025
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Mohammad Ali Babakhel //DAWN: 17 February 2025
TECHNOLOGY has brought us speed, innovation, increased access to information and connectivity. However, there seems to be very little discussion about its impact on our humanness.
Social values have always been exposed to change, but in the past, this process would be slow. The values held by our parents appeared almost static, for example. In contrast, the digital age has brought with it a rapid transformation in who we are as social creatures. For example, before modern technology, our sense of belonging to places used to be very strong. Once considered central to society, that value is no longer considered as such. The sanctity of the place where we are born or have grown up has lost significance, resulting in a weaker sense of belongingness and loyalty.
Increased screen time has resulted in a decrease in face-to-face interactions within families, meaning a reduction in time spent on healthy discussions and sharing experiences. Social media has also exposed individuals to values that differ wildly from those held by traditional families, impacting relationships, marriage and child-rearing. It has created unrealistic standards of success and beauty, leading to dissatisfaction within oneself and within families. The increased engagement of young people on digital platforms has also detached them from older generations, threatening the continuity of value systems. Therefore, while social media has improved connectivity, it has also taken away from the quality of real-life personal relationships.
On the plus side, technology has contributed to strengthening families by enabling family members living far away to remain connected through video calls and messaging, fostering a sense of togetherness even when living far apart. It has also facilitated the provision of far more educational resources for children by enabling parents to access online courses for their children, including online teaching and parenting apps. Tablets and smartphones are becoming more common in education, and they are used for virtual tutoring and monitoring of children’s progress.
Technology has also facilitated gender equality and empowerment, challenging traditional gender roles in family life. Women can now access information that enables them to pursue their education, careers, and financial independence. Likewise, digital advocacy for change has facilitated marginalised communities in sharing their experiences and struggling for their rights. Changing values, particularly about women pursuing career and personal development, has resulted in delayed marriages, which has had positive outcomes for population growth and many other social indicators.
Globalisation and technology have also brought distant cultures closer, resulting in more frequent marriages between different cultures and ethnic backgrounds and creating blended families. This has created an even wider range of cultural norms and family practices, making family structures more fluid and diverse.
Technology has also offered various time-saving benefits, such as online payment of utility bills, online banking, and shopping. This has provided comfort, reduced stress, and allowed more time for other social activities. Online platforms also provide space for support networks and communities where people can share their experiences and challenges with others in similar situations. These can provide much inspiration for those struggling.
Technology and privacy are interconnected. Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights incorporates priv-
acy as a human right. The increased use of digital technologies has posed significant challenges to privacy, as technology has made it easier for governments and other entities to collect, analyse, and sometimes misuse personal data. Safeguarding privacy as a human right is inevitable and requires a clearly defined legal framework and digital literacy for individuals to understand how to protect their personal information. However, privacy is not just about protecting data alone but also ensuring freedom of expression, autonomy, and human dignity.
Technology has brought convenience but also ethical dilemmas. The line between convenience and privacy is often blurred, and it requires clarity. Realistically, ideal clarity regarding privacy is not possible, but the struggle for such will acknowledge the efforts that respecting privacy is another name for acknowledging human dignity.
Undoubtedly, in present times, human survival is difficult without technology. However, the real concern is how the new generation is using technology, which has reduced the scope and time needed to enhance their understanding of human relationships.
The writer is the author of Pakistan: In Between Extremism and Peace.
X: *@alibabakhel*
Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2025
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