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(The plight of Children in Pakistan)
Arifa Noor // DAWN: 18 Feb 2025
THE obsession of our politicians and others with the youth is undeniable. Since the country figured out the link between the rise in Imran Khan’s popularity and Pakistan’s youth bulge, every Boomer and Gen X-er in public life and politics (and those in between) is keen to find a spot on the pedestal that the young of this country are holding up. The youth is the new black, it seems, to use fashion lingo from a long time ago.
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari makes it a point to mention his own age and that of the country’s majority in nearly every speech, with a nod to how this is one page in terms of the number of years lived, which will eventually trump the oldies who may be popular or are trying to be popular with young Pakistanis.
Maryam Nawaz, chief minister of Punjab, recently ended a whirlwind tour of her province’s higher learning institutes, which was celebrated with much pomp and show. It was a bit reminiscent of Kamala Harris’s election campaign in terms of its energy. And this weekend, the chief of army staff also addressed a large gathering of students, which was covered widely. His address came after a number of military officials, including the ISPR head, also visited different universities and colleges to address groups of students.
This interest in Pakistan’s young population is not without reason. The target is the young adult, who is relatively privileged, educated, and a voter. In other words, it is someone who fits the profile of the voter who had made the PTI a phenomenon of sorts. But outside of this possible voter, who has to be won over, the young in this country, especially less privileged children, get no attention. Not even that of the policymakers.
Just consider the story of the 12-year-old who died in Rawalpindi last week. She died of wounds inflicted on her by her employers. According to one story, the woman she worked for beat her with a rolling pin; by the time the child reached hospital, she had multiple fractures including one on her skull, which proved fatal. Her crime? She was held responsible by her employers for some missing chocolate in their home.
The couple who had employed her have eight children of their own and yet had no qualms about breaking the head of someone else’s offspring. It appears that they couldn’t even be bothered to take 12-year-old Iqra to hospital; some stories report that a woman who came to the house to teach the children the Quran took her to hospital. But it was already too late. She survived mere days before succumbing to her injuries. The couple has since been arrested but it remains to be seen how long they will spend behind bars.
The story has jolted no one. It has barely been mentioned outside news bulletins and newspaper pages with a few quotes from mid-level government officials who ‘have taken notice’. As I write this, I am not even sure what more attention for such a case would achieve. After all, in the past, when a similar story has been noticed, it leads to just a temporary media blitz, before it is forgotten.
Initially, there is noisy coverage, followed by outrage and anger. Then come the statements, visits and photo ops of government people and a quick court trial. Through all this, the focus is on harsh punishments for the culprit; little attention is paid to any mid- to long-term strategy which might help to prevent vulnerable children from ending up working in homes where they are in danger. But then, as a society we are least interested in complex policy issues; instead, we prefer instant solutions and fast food. Overnight fixes are the name of our game.
Hence, few of those who were outraged over the Tayyaba abuse case of 2016 would have any idea of what happened later in the story. Tayyaba was the child who proved to be luckier than 12-year-old Iqra. Her story made headlines when pictures came forward of her bruised and injured face. Despite the beatings and burns, she survived after weeks of treatment, and the culprits served their eventually reduced sentence.
Similarly, those who spent weeks discussing the Fatima case never bothered to find out what transpired later. Fatima was a nine-year-old who was allegedly killed in 2023 while working at the haveli of a landlord in Khairpur. The suspicious circumstances in which she was found and the CCTV footage that came to light hinted at abuse — domestic and sexual. The accused in Fatima’s case, till last reports, was still making his way through the judicial system.
But none of these cases has ever led to any pressure for reform or debate about what to do in a country where, according to an International Labour Organisation report from 2022, one in four households employs a child for domestic work. In the face of deepening poverty, there is little hope that these statistics can change; for all the attention the issue gets from policymakers, they don’t appear to think there is much to be done, except push for harsh sentences for those who get caught.
But is it simply because they have no answers or because there is no political gain? Some of those who rule us think that reaching out to university and college students will win them the next election or cleanse Pakistan of the PTI and Imran Khan. But it seems as if those who are so poor that they have to place their young daughters in the homes of others to be abused and killed have even less to offer.
The writer is a journalist.
Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2025
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Syed Saadat // DAWN: 18 February 2025
A COUPLE of phrases in Urdu aptly sum up Pakistan’s entire governance model. The first is ‘file ko wheels lagana’ (attaching wheels to a file), which implies the greasing of palms in order to get things done in a government department. The second is ‘file ka pait bharna’, which implies stuffing a file with relevant and irrelevant details so that the matter under the spotlight turns ambiguous and thus it becomes difficult to find the proverbial devil in the details — in this case, approving the proposal is found to be the only option.
Not many who are known as the ‘competent authority’ are in the habit of reading more than a few pages — sometimes just a few lines — of a case that is put up to them for approval.
At best, our most well-read bureaucrats might be mindful of things that are reported by an investigative journalist or an op-ed writer who takes pains to weave a story out of a news item, and then analyses it.
So, the stuffing of files almost always gives the impression of a pressing need for approval, while the reality is that the ‘justifications’ that are provided for most plans that many civil servants make to apparently maximise personal benefits using government funds are more often than not ‘fiction’.
A recent example is the plan to purchase vehicles worth billions of rupees by the Federal Board of Revenue. The plan was leaked to social media, which led a Senate standing committee to demand justification from the FBR for such an exorbitant spending spree.
The latest in the matter is that the process has been halted till a probe into the justification of the demand and transparency of the process is completed; one can rightly ask if the process has been halted to ‘stuff the file’, and to get approval as soon as the dust settles.
The justification provided by the FBR chief before the Senate committee that the vehicles are necessary to identify non-filers by visiting markets across the country appears flimsy. If the plan is to catch tax evaders by sitting around in shops and observing the number of glasses the lassi wallah sells every morning, then I am not very hopeful.
This brings us to another useless plan to curb corruption. This time the organisation behind the plan is an international one — the IMF.
To fulfil the conditions set by the Fund, the government has recently amended the Civil Servants Act, making it mandatory for civil servants to declare their assets and to make these details public.
Perhaps the IMF does not know that in Pakistan you can find frontmen a dime a dozen to provide legal cover to ill-gotten wealth. Civil servants do not need to keep assets in their own name and the wealth that is stashed abroad by some does not even count. It should be simple to figure out that not coming clear about your assets is a lot easier for an individual who has already sold his conscience.
It is pertinent to point out that any international organisation would be living in a fool’s paradise if it believed that it can achieve through legislation what internal intelligence organisations have failed to achieve, despite their unchecked authority and innumerable resources. Would the IMF demand prove an exercise in futility?
This brings us to the recent remarks made by an apex court judge while hearing the petition of a civil servant, who was denied promotion due to unsatisfactory reports by the intelligence agencies that said, “He is financially corrupt and involved in corrupt practices. He is shrewed [sic] person who can’t handle pressures”, and “the officer does not carry fair reputation vis-à-vis financial integrity”, without giving further de-tails. The judge pointed out that the allegation was neither substantiated by any proof or further details, and was critical of the causal format of the intelli-gence reports.
It is true that reports by intelligence agencies can be arbitrary. I do agree that they can be misused and many readers would also support this observation, given the disdain we have heaped upon the intelligence apparatus.
However, one can also play the devil’s advocate and ask if any reader can produce a receipt of the bribe they paid to get an electric meter or a gas meter connection or any other seemingly trivial matter?
Another question is whether intel agencies should be allowed to run sting operations on civil servants to collect evidence. That would open another Pandora’s box. They say change is eternal; in Pakistan we say corruption is eternal and is surely here to stay. So, let’s just stuff the files and live in style.
The writer is a former civil servant.
syedsaadatwrites@gmail.com
X: @SyedSaadat55
Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2025
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DAWN EDITORIAL: 18 Feb 2025
THE Green Pakistan Initiative took off with the launch of three business franchises under the umbrella project in Cholistan last week. The ventures, which are backed by the military, promise to serve farmers as a “one-stop shop solution”, providing them with high-yield seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, and fuel at discounted rates.
Farming implements and machines, including tractors and drones, will also be rented out to them at affordable prices. In addition, soil testing and other research services will be offered to growers in collaboration with agriculture research institutions in the country to encourage innovation in this most important economic sector upon which depends our food security and much of our export earnings.
The GPI was created in 2023 to “promote corporate farming” to attract Gulf investment in agriculture, introducing contemporary best practices, reducing costs, and increasing yields to boost farm exports. The army has already been given control of thousands of acres of both ‘barren’ and fertile state land in Punjab, mostly in Cholistan.
While the business services mentioned have ostensibly been introduced for farmers of all sizes, and are likely to be extended to other parts of the province later, only large — corporate — farms spread over at least 5,000 acres will likely benefit from most of these facilities due to the cost and area under coverage. With the expansion of business services, the benefits may also trickle down to large family-based growers.
It is apparent that the GPI goals of bringing foreign investors and introducing modern farming practices to improve agricultural productivity and exports are largely aligned with Pakistan’s broader economic aims. However, the manner in which the initiative was launched during the caretaker set-up raises questions.
First and foremost is the issue of the construction of two canals to irrigate land in Cholistan under the GPI’s control. The project approved by the federal government in agreement with Punjab has caused much anxiety in Sindh. Both the Sindh government and farmers in the province are objectingstrongly to the controversial plan, pointing out that the schemes were approved without discussion at the CCI for dubious reasons.
Punjab’s argument that these canals will be fed with floodwaters from India-controlled Sutlej does not have a leg to stand on. What happens during the years when there is no flood in the river? From where will the water come in flood-less years?
There is also the issue of evictions of tenants from state land in Punjab in order to transfer those lands to the GPI. What kind of a development strategy or plan would seek to strip thousands of their livelihoods and ignore smallholders? It, therefore, is advisable that the government and the security leadership transparently resolve these issues with all parties concerned before moving ahead with the plan.
Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2025
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Qatar has committed to investing $10 billion in India across various sectors, the two nations said in a joint statement on Tuesday, after Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani visited New Delhi.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he had a “very productive meeting” with Qatar’s Emir, who was on a two-day visit to New Delhi.
“Trade featured prominently in our talks. We want to increase and diversify India-Qatar trade linkages,” Modi said in a post on X. It was the first such visit by a Qatari Emir to the South Asian nation in 10 years.
According to the statement, Qatar will invest $10bn in India in infrastructure, technology, manufacturing, food security, logistics, hospitality and other sectors.
The two countries will aim to double their annual trade to $28bn in the next five years and are exploring the signing of a free trade agreement, the Indian foreign ministry said earlier in the day.
Bilateral trade between the two nations stood at $18.77bn in the fiscal year that ended in March 2023, mainly comprising liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from Qatar.
Qatar accounted for more than 48 per cent of India’s LNG imports that year.
The two sides said they would work to enhance bilateral energy cooperation, including mutual investments in energy infrastructure, as well as look at the settlement of bilateral trade in their respective currencies.
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