Dawn Editorials & Opinions

Pension burden
Editorial 20 August 2020

PRIME MINISTER Imran Khan has described the government’s rapidly ‫ تیزی سے‬increasing pension bill as a far
more serious ‫ سنگین‬problem than the huge ‫ بڑا ص‬power-sector debt ‫قرضہ‬. That might sound a bit exaggerated
‫ مبالغہ آرائی‬at a time when the government continues to make its pension payments but appears unable to
liquidate ‫ کمی النا‬the circular debt. However, the time is not far off when the ballooning ‫ پھیلتا ہوا‬pension
expenditure ‫ خرچ‬will become our biggest budgetary ‫ بجٹ سے متعلق‬challenge, further squeezing ‫کمی التے ہوئے آئے‬
the space for development ‫ ترقی‬unless, as Mr Khan rightly asserted ‫ زور دیا‬at a recent cabinet meeting, it is
tackled ‫ نمٹا گیا‬quickly ‫تیزی سے‬. The federal and provincial pension liabilities ‫ واجبات‬are already becoming
fiscally ‫ مالی طور پر‬unsustainable.‫ غیر مستحکم‬For example, the country’s consolidated ‫ مجموعی‬federal and
provincial pension obligations ‫ ذمہ داریاں‬are estimated to have reached Rs1tr for the current financial year, or
equal to a quarter ‫ ایک چوتھائی‬of the total taxes collected by FBR last fiscal. The data shows that the annual
federal pension payments of Rs470bn, which mostly consisted ‫ مشتمل‬of military pensions and excluded ‫خارج کیا‬
‫ گیا‬retirement benefits ‫ فوائد‬paid by SOEs (state owned enterprises) to employees, have grown close to the annual
wage ‫ تنخواہ‬bill. Similarly, at the provincial level, Punjab has booked an expenditure of Rs250.7bn, or just
Rs15bn less than what it spent on development last year, for pension payments during the ongoing ‫ جاری‬fiscal
‫مالی سال‬. Punjab’s pension budget has spiked ‫ اضافہ ہوا‬by an annual average of 24.1pc since 2011. The story in
the other provinces is not much different. If the current state of affairs ،‫ معامالت‬،‫ صورتحال‬is allowed to continue,
the entire pension system will become insolvent ‫دیوالیہ‬..

Multiple ‫ کئی‬factors have contributed to the exponential ،‫ تیز‬، ‫ تیزی سے‬growth in the pension payments of the
government in recent years: a) the public sector’s ‫ سرکاری‬growing size; b) increase in life expectancy ‫ ;توقع‬c) a
skewed ‫ ٹیڑھا‬unfunded public pension system that lets children and grandchildren of retirees ‫ریٹائر ہونے والے‬
draw pension payments; and d) hikes ‫ اضافہ‬in pension benefits to offset ‫ تالفی‬the impact of inflation ‫افراط زر‬. Mr
Khan also hinted ‫ اشارہ دیا‬at hiring a foreign consultant to suggest pension reforms. It is not for the first time that
a government has enunciated ‫ اعالن کیا‬its plans to address the challenges posed by an unsustainable public
pension system. Various ‫ کئی‬efforts in the last couple of decades have resulted in minor changes, with no
significant ‫ خاطر خواہ‬shift ‫ تبدیلی‬in the existing unfunded, pay-as-you-go defined retirement benefits scheme or
reduction in the liability ‫ واجبات‬. The purpose of future reforms should be to stop growth in the government’s
pension-related liabilities, reduce the present pension bill and restructure ‫ تعمیر نو‬the system on a self-sustaining،
‫ خود مستحکم‬،‫ خودکار‬model..

Different countries have successfully adopted ‫ اپنایا‬different models in order to avoid the dangers associated
‫ منسلک‬with the pay-as-you-go-based pension system in recent years. One is the shift from the current unfunded
defined pension benefits to a fully funded, defined contributory ‫ شراکت داری‬pension scheme with the government
guaranteeing ‫ ضمانت دیتے ہوئے‬a minimum monthly income after retirement. Whatever model is adopted, the
long-term ‫ دور رس‬focus ‫ توجہ‬should be to ensure post-retirement income security ‫ تحفظ‬for government
employees while reducing the burden of pension payments on the budget..
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 Dawn Editorials & Opinions

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2020.

A tragic murder
Editorial 20 August 2020

IT is an image that must sear ‫ جھلسانا‬itself into the conscience ‫ ضمیر‬of a nation: a mother, her face contorted ‫بگڑا‬
‫ ہوا‬in a howl of grief ‫دکھ سے رونا‬, arms stretched ‫ پھیلے ہوئے‬upwards as though ‫ جیسا کہ‬asking heaven ‫‘ آسمان‬why?’
and a father, weeping ‫ روتے ہوئے‬helplessly ‫ بے بسی سے‬over the body of their dead son, the earth soaked ‫بھیگا ہوا‬
in the young man’s blood. The victim ‫ شکار‬was Hayat Baloch, a BSc physiology student at Karachi University
and the first in his family to go to a higher education institute. With his degree, he believed he could find a job
that would bring his parents relief from a financially ‫ مالی‬strapped ‫ بندھی ہوئی‬existence ‫ بقا‬،‫موجودگی‬: that dream
died with him on a dusty ‫ گرد آلود‬road in Turbat, Balochistan, last week. Hayat and his father were harvesting
‫ اتاررہے تھے‬dates ‫ کھجور‬at a farm when passing Frontier Corps vehicles were targeted by an IED (improvised
explosive device). Some FC personnel ‫ عملہ‬who had fanned ‫ بکھرے ہوئے‬out in the area to search for the culprits
‫ مجرم‬came upon Hayat. They dragged him to the road, shot him multiple times and left him to die. His father
pleaded ‫ التجا کی‬in vain ‫ بے سود‬that his son had been working alongside ‫ ساتھ‬him all day..

Extrajudicial ‫ ماورائے عدالت‬killings, often in the form of staged ‫ نقلی‬encounters ‫مقابلے‬, are a stain ‫ دھبہ‬on this
country’s reputation ‫سوق‬, belying ‫ جھٹالتے ہوئے‬its claim ‫ دعوی‬to be a democracy ‫ جمہوریت‬with constitutionally
‫ آئینی طور پر‬protected rights to security of person and due process. Hayat’s murder created an uproar ‫ہنگامہ‬
largely because the image described above went viral. The FC has handed over the alleged ‫ مبینہ‬killer to the
police, and Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari condemned the “brazen ‫ڈھائی‬killing” as “absolutely
unacceptable” saying that an inquiry must be held. One hopes that justice will indeed be served. Usually,
however, most victims of this crime remain mere ‫ محض‬statistics.‫ شماریات‬Not only do extrajudicial killings take
place with impunity ‫ استثناء‬in the sparsely ‫ کم‬populated reaches ‫ عالقے‬of Balochistan, but elsewhere in the
country too, including Karachi — a consequence of the carte blanche ‫ آزادی‬certain sections of law-enforcement
have been given in the name of fighting against militant/separatist ‫علیحدگی پسند‬/‫ جنگجو‬groups. Who can forget
former SSP Rao Anwar under whom, according to the police’s own record, at least 444 people were slain ‫قتل‬
‫ ہوئے‬in fake encounters? ‫ جعلی پولیس مقابلے‬A public furore ‫ ہنگامہ‬similar to the one over Hayat’s death finally led
to Rao being indicted ‫ فرد جرم‬for Naqeebullah Mehsud’s murder in January 2018. But the now retired cop ‫پولیس‬
‫ مین‬remains free on bail while his trial drags on ‫ گھسٹنا‬and key prosecution ‫ استغاثہ‬witnesses ‫ گواہ‬turn hostile
‫مخالف‬. Such is the bitter reality ‫ کڑوی حقیقت‬of how the state, more often than not, treats extrajudicial killings..

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2020.

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